National Commission for Women chairperson Rekha Sharma said Monday reports of girls being kidnapped or auctioned in Rajasthan’s Sawai Madhopur were similar, if not identical, to those from Bhilwara, where girls were reportedly auctioned on caste panchayat diktats.
Women and child rights bodies had claimed the Bhilwara auctions were taking place with ‘political and administrative support’ – a charge repeated by the NCW chairperson today, who said activities in Sawai Madhopur were ‘managed by the administration in the night’
“It was all managed by the administration in the night. This was in Bhilwara… but the administration didn’t know I was in Sawai Madhopur too. The same activities are taking place there too. Girls are kidnapped, brought here and passed off as their (the kidnappers’) own.”
She also said that when a team of NCW officials reached Bhilwara they found nothing because ‘as soon as the news (of the criminal activities) became public, houses were locked’.
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“It was discovered through media and conversations with dhaba owners that such activities do occur there but… as soon as the news became public, the houses were locked.”
Sharma also slammed local officials for not meeting her to discuss the issue.
“I’m trying to meet officials. Chief secretary is busy with PM Modi’s event. DGP is inaugurating something somewhere. He’s not interested in meeting…,” she said.
Rajasthan’s top cop, ML Lather, had earlier stressed the police would be ‘strict (in dealing with) atrocities against women’. “The media has been told about two victims (girls) and a case was registered in 2019 in relation to the incident…” he was quoted by news agency ANI.
Controversy over reports girls were being sold in Bhilwara – to cover loan repayments – and their mothers were threatened with rape if they did not allow their daughters to be auctioned broke Thursday after a notice by the National Human Rights Commission.
The auctions and threats, the report indicated, were carried out on orders from caste panchayats that were approached to settle disputes, and the girls were being sent to Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Mumbai, Delhi and even abroad.
(With ANI inputs)
