Helping prostitutes to begin new life
Source: Agencies |
March 12, 2012, Monday
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A village in western India hosted a mass wedding and engagement ceremony of 21 girls yesterday aimed at breaking a tradition of prostitution which has for centuries exploited women of a poor, marginalized and once nomadic community in the region.
Hundreds of guests from surrounding villages and government officials gathered at the colorful event, which saw eight couples married and 13 others engaged in a huge marquee in Wadia village, 115 kilometers west of Palanpur in India's Gujarat state.
"Prostitution is a tradition which this community adopted for ages and it has been very normal for them. They did not think they were doing anything wrong. But it is uncivilized, indecent," said Vijay Bhatt, development officer for Banaskantha district, which Wadia village is part of.
Adorned in gold jewelry and dressed in brightly colored pink sequined skirts and blouses, the girls sat veiled on a raised platform in a long line next to their grooms and fiances in golden turbans, as a Hindu priest chanted Vedic mantras.
Activists said the girls - who come from the Saraniya community, where women traditionally do not marry and work as prostitutes in nearby towns and cities - will now be able to break free of the profession of their mothers and lead "normal, pious" lives.
"We are trying to get rid of this culture and stigma. We want to pull it from its roots," said Ramesh Saraniya, whose 25-year-old sister and 22-year-old niece were wedded to local village men in the mass ceremony. "It is happening for the good of our society."
The women of the Saraniya community, a nomadic group of 50,000, were "entertainers" for the warlords, dancing and singing, as well as providing sexual pleasure for their employers.
After India's independence from Britain in 1947, the Saraniya were given land to provide a better means of income, but due to the "easy money" made from sex work, Wadia's men have continued soliciting their sisters and daughters.
Hundreds of guests from surrounding villages and government officials gathered at the colorful event, which saw eight couples married and 13 others engaged in a huge marquee in Wadia village, 115 kilometers west of Palanpur in India's Gujarat state.
"Prostitution is a tradition which this community adopted for ages and it has been very normal for them. They did not think they were doing anything wrong. But it is uncivilized, indecent," said Vijay Bhatt, development officer for Banaskantha district, which Wadia village is part of.
Adorned in gold jewelry and dressed in brightly colored pink sequined skirts and blouses, the girls sat veiled on a raised platform in a long line next to their grooms and fiances in golden turbans, as a Hindu priest chanted Vedic mantras.
Activists said the girls - who come from the Saraniya community, where women traditionally do not marry and work as prostitutes in nearby towns and cities - will now be able to break free of the profession of their mothers and lead "normal, pious" lives.
"We are trying to get rid of this culture and stigma. We want to pull it from its roots," said Ramesh Saraniya, whose 25-year-old sister and 22-year-old niece were wedded to local village men in the mass ceremony. "It is happening for the good of our society."
The women of the Saraniya community, a nomadic group of 50,000, were "entertainers" for the warlords, dancing and singing, as well as providing sexual pleasure for their employers.
After India's independence from Britain in 1947, the Saraniya were given land to provide a better means of income, but due to the "easy money" made from sex work, Wadia's men have continued soliciting their sisters and daughters.
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