Even as she tried to speak, she began weeping uncontrollably; as if she had been deprived even of the freedom to cry for years. The very thought of what she had been through, only a few months ago, made her tremble. Haggard and disconsolate, 15-year-old Vaishnavi slowly gathered herself to talk.
Forced into prostitution by her mother and trafficked by her aunt, in promise of her a bright future, Vaishnavi said that she had been sexually abused repeatedly for over a year, before she escaped from a brothel in the city. Her hands were rid with scars of beatings, which she said she had to endure at every attempt to flee.
She is one among an estimated two lakh women and children subjected to sexual abuse from the State (according to a survey conducted by Network Against Trafficking and Sexual exploitation in AP). “Nearly 1.5 lakh of them are below 21 years of age and over one lakh i.e., almost 50 per cent, are not even 18 years in age,” said Ram Mohan of an NGO, HELP.
“While there are women in prostitution by choice, children who are sexually abused are undoubtedly victims of trafficking, which is the cruellest form of exploitation,” he added. Official records state that ‘Andhra Pradesh is a source, destination as well as transit State for trafficking. Women and children from Nepal are also trafficked here.' Several children, some as young as nine years, are trafficked to the State from several parts of the country, including Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, either by force or by lure of money.
“I fell in love and married by a man who brought me to the city in promise of a better life. Here he forced me sleep with different people each day to earn money. I didn't know anyone else here. I had no other choice,” said 21-year-old Lalita, who has recently been rescued by the police. The Women Development and Child Welfare Department (WDCWD) of the State took steps to prevent trafficking and rehabilitate and reintegrate trafficked victims through schemes of ‘Swadhar' and ‘Ujjawala'. But, due to clandestine nature of trafficking and formidable challenges, only 3,000 victims have been rescued since 2003 with the help of homes run by NGOs.
“There are children in our home who have been raped and trafficked by their brothers. It took a great deal to rehabilitate them and today they go to school. But criminalisation of victims, even in schools, is deplorable,” says Padmavati, in-charge of Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust, which houses 96 trafficked, mentally sick and abandoned women and children.
Besides being forced to move constantly by their traffickers to avoid being arrested, several victims are also mentally sick due to repeated sexual abuse and torture. Officials testified that most NGOs do not accommodate such victims, who require extensive care.
Delayed funding
Moreover, homes in the State to rehabilitate and reintegrate victims, funded by the Central government, face problems of delayed funding. A home in Kuktapally, run by the State between 2007 and 2008, which accommodated over 250 exploited and abandoned women, closed down due to delay in procuring funds from the Centre.
Officials confirmed that there is a delay even in disbursing funds to NGOs running homes and said that have written to the Central government asking for funds to continue activities of the Kukatpally home.
(Names of victims changed to protect identity)
