India’s National Human Rights Commission has demanded an immediate investigation by the authorities into a massive network of «auctioning» of girls, some as young as eight years old, in the northern state of Rajasthan, where they are «sold and distributed» to numerous locations in the country, including the capital, New Delhi, or even abroad, to pay off family debts.
In a statement issued late Thursday, the commission notes recent media reports linking these «auctions» to the «dictates» of the communal councils or panchayats, which operate according to the country’s strict social caste system.
The commission also denounces particularly lurid aspects such as the fact that if families refuse to use their daughters in these auctions, the mothers end up being victims of rape and other sexual abuses. «If confirmed, this would be an abominable practice,» warns the commission in a statement published on its website.
Among the cases highlighted by the commission is that of a man who borrowed 1.5 million rupees (about 18,000 euros) from a neighbor, and was forced by the panchayat to sell his sister and 12-year-old daughter to pay off the debt.
The Commission has therefore sent a notice to the director general of police of Rajasthan to submit a detailed report «mentioning the initiation of criminal proceedings against the perpetrators of the said crime and their accomplices or sympathizers».
Meanwhile, the commission’s special rapporteur, Umesh Kumar Sharma, will visit and investigate the state in the coming days with a view to preparing a report on what happened and submitting it within a maximum of three months.
