India as a country is home to a lot of regressive cultures that will be deemed to be inhumane and barbaric in most of the world. With our history being plagued by the infamous ‘sati’ system the life of some women has never been a fairy tale in this country. Jogini, Devadasi or call them ‘India’s forgotten sex slaves’, India has already become the hub of child trafficking where every eight minutes a child goes missing. “Devadasi system is a religious practice in parts of southern India, including Andhra Pradesh, whereby parents marry a daughter to a deity or a temple. The marriage usually occurs before the girl reaches puberty and requires the girl to become a prostitute for upper-caste community members. Such girls are known as jogging. They are forbidden to enter into a real marriage”. There is a striking similarity between the joint system and child trafficking the difference is just that the girls are not kidnapped, they are devoted.
What does the law say?
There are an ample number of laws that have abolished the inhumane practice. The Madras Devadasis (Prevention of Dedication) Act was enacted on 9 October 1947 just after the independence which does provide an insight into the minds of the lawmakers. The law was expected to be very instrumental in bringing the women upfront, still, it didn’t do well though it promised women the right to marry and abolished the practice. The prostitution of Jogini was abolished in the region by the 1956 Madras Anti-Devadasi Act. Since then there had been various similar legislations abolishing the Jogini system including the 1934 Bombay Devadasi Protection Act, the 1957 Bombay Protection (Extension) Act, and the 1988 Andhra Pradesh Devadasi (Prohibition of Dedication) Act. The 1988 Act is the last legislation that dealt with the issue but as it is the sad reality of the country, the implementation of this legislation is not even close to satisfaction.
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Child rights infringement
One of the most important principles behind the whole joint system is the age of the girl and owing to that ‘girls as young as five may be dedicated to being as jogini’. The law has conferred children with various rights which can broadly be categorized into four ‘right to survival’, ‘right to protection’, ‘right to participation’, and ‘right to development’. The Jogini system blatantly violates all these rights and gives no choice to the victims to even think about these rights. Though the practice has been abolished in 1988 there has been enough evidence to show how the whole system is prevalent in some parts of the country. Telangana and Andhra Pradesh the two states together have about 80,000 Devadasi women. The major factor in the joint system is extreme poverty, traditional beliefs, and superstitions. Almost all the joints are married off at a very young age and then as they become the ‘property of the village’ they have to suffer from various atrocities. The Joginis are the victim of sex slavery or temple prostitution and as they are deemed to be servants of the gods they are illicitly used by people. Girls who are to be devoted are supposed to be young and have no proper education they have immense pressure and are supposed to bring fortune to the people. The Joginis are no more than sex slaves but the worst thing about it is that it gets strong religious and societal backing owing to which it is still prevalent in the country. What started as a highly respected cultural practice eventually trickled its way down to the lower caste system where it has warped into what is practiced today. “A more sinister form of the Devadasi sub-culture began engulfing women of the lowest caste and a type of glorified village prostitute was born – the Jogini.” There are innumerable child rights infringements that go hand in hand with this practice but still, there is not much done about it. The priest who pays for the dedication of the girl gets to use her as his slave as soon as she gains puberty and after that, she is sent back to her village to serve as a village prostitute. “At a tender age, all avenues of escape seem gone. Here begins the sexual slavery that she will endure for the rest of her life.” Joginis are not paid for the work they indulge in and are always considered to be a village prostitute. Young girls are forced to enter this system as they are considered to be a burden on the family and due to this prevalent gender inequality since birth, so many young girls end up in this vicious circle of sex slavery.
What can be done?
Though the estimated number of Jogini is 80,000 still this number might not reveal the extent of the problem. The economic factor is the biggest hurdle in eradicating this from the country. People can be educated about the whole system of sex slavery but their economic condition would still pull them down. The biggest question still being that how can we prevent such violations of child rights. There has to be a much more focused plan of action against the people who are in the process of devoting these young girls. The toughest thing would be to prevent those girls who are in the process of being devoted. There are various NGOs working in this sector to prevent such violations of Child Rights and they do have some good action plans but it won’t bear any fruit until the government actively supports it. Considering the fact that the practice still prevails even though it has been decades since the whole system has been deemed to be illegal gives a not-so-optimistic image for the future. In the end, it boils down to two things economic conditions and education, the government needs to put active efforts into these factors if we have to end these child rights violations.
Conclusion
There is a long road ahead and what we need is an active support/partnership between the government and NGOs. The Jogini system has not always been construed from the perspective of child rights violations and the rehabilitation of the victims has been the primary motive of the NGOs and the government. We have to strike at the root of the problem so that we could end this inhumane practice plaguing the country. Proper implementation of the law is the way forward and it has to be taken as a priority issue. Educating these people is the primary concern and efforts need to be made in this direction. Still, “the freedom of the Jogini lies in more than legal paperwork and stamps. It will be found in the strength of the Jogini women themselves and the discovery of their self-worth and the reshaping of their communities.”
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