Indian girls trafficked into prostitution.

Twelve year old Bhavani (name changed) grew up in a poor farming community in the southern Indian state of Andrah Pradesh. Instead of going to school she helped her family in the fields, but there was never enough food to feed her parents and all their ten children. When a cousin came and told the family about a man who wished to marry Bhavani and take her to New Delhi and would demand no dowery, the family were overjoyed and agreed. When they married, however, and she went to the capital, it was suddenly revealed that her new home was to be in the red light district in a brothel. Her new husband had “married” twelve other brides and sold them all. The brothel had bought her for $1000. Bhavati refused to work as a prostitute at first, but after beatings and starvation she gave in . Only after she had suffered five abortions and numerous sexually transmitted diseases was Bhavani rescued by an Indian NGO.
Bhavani is one of thousands of Indian girls trafficked within India into forced prostitution. Much more needs to be done to fight this problem, including better co-ordination between law enforcement agencies and also a drive against the corruption which can link local police to the money made from trafficking, according to a recent report by the Indian Institute of Social Sciences.
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