Kantamal: Cases of girls from Boudh district being trafficked to Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan under pretext of marriage is not uncommon. Neither are cases where poverty-stricken parents sell away their daughters willfully for meager amounts to these states.
Such a case has surfaced in Sindurpur village under Kantamal police limits of Boudh district.
Madhu Rajhans (68), who has already sold away his elder daughter through a middleman, is presently mulling over selling away his matriculate and differently abled younger daughter.
The farmland Madhu owns is less than one acre. Acute poverty and old age prevent him from carrying out cultivation there. He has given away the land to share croppers.
His income comprises eight gunny bags of paddy a year and Rs 500 a month as old age pension. His wife does not get old age pension even though she is a sexagenarian. Their daughter is differently abled but is yet to get a disability pension.
Madhu and his wife have been doing rounds of panchayat office. They are tired of submitting applications, requesting for pension, at least for their daughter but to no avail. None has given them an ear so far. Their son is yet to come of age to win bread for the family.
The old man says he can afford neither the education cost of his daughter nor the marriage expenses. “I am not able to send my daughter to college, nor can I marry her off while following all the tradition. I am considering selling her off.”
Madhu says there are many parents of his village and of nearby villages who have done so in the name of marriage. Many of these parents are clueless about the whereabouts of their daughters.
“I married off my daughter Apeswari four years ago. I handed her over to an unknown person for a meager Rs 20,000. She has visited us only once in past four years. Sometimes she would call to our neighbours to enquire about us,” he claims, adding, “If similar will be the fate of my younger daughter, so be it.”
When asked does it not hurt him as a father to think about selling off his daughter in name of marriage, he says he has no choice. “She would live the life what her destiny has in store for her.”
Notably, girl trafficking rackets are highly active in Boudh district. After striking a deal with parents, mostly poor ones, middlemen take the girls to other states. They are often promised better standards of living, marriage options and job prospects among others. However, more often than not, once taken away, the whereabouts of these girls become a mystery. Several reports in the past have shown that they are forced into manual labour and prostitution among others.
PNN