WHO? Well-connected 3 agents - Jessy, Zeenath and Shehna
operate with help of a youth brigade and supply girls and even children
to rich clients. HOW?: The youths hang around colleges and lure girls into racket. RATE: Agents charge double for supplying young girls, pocketing 50% of the amount.
Alappuzha, Kerala: It’s
the dark side of tourism, operating in clandestine nooks of lakes where
the houseboats are stationed and in tourist spots where paedophiles
lurk to satisfy their unholy lust.
A spurt
in tourism , so important for the state's economy, has brought with it
both foreign and domestic tourists looking to enjoy sexual encounters
with local women and sometimes even children.
The
queens of this lucrative sex trade in this houseboats capital are three
women - Jessy, Zeenath and Shehna, Deccan Chronicle discovered in a
week-long investigation.
The three are experienced
hands in the industry with influential connections. Zeenath is the top
gun and has bought lands in several areas near town, reveals a sex
worker.
The trio depends on a ‘youth brigade’ to
lure young girls into the trade, she says. “We often see the boys in
the brigade in front of colleges. They are experts at winning the hearts
of the girls and then dragging them into the racket,” the woman adds.
Only a couple of weeks ago a young girl was supplied to an Arab tourist on a houseboat this way, according to her.
"It
was her first sexual encounter. The 20-year-old girl from Adoor in
Pathanamthitta district was taken by Jessy, an agent living in a rented
house in Edathva here, to the Arab tourist for three days for a sum of
Rs 45,000 with the help of Zeenath and Shehna.
“She
was taken by car to the houseboat, but a day later the girl escaped
unable to bear the relentless encounter with the tourist,” says the sex
worker, adding that the girl is very depressed and now in Zeenath's
custody. “She was given just Rs 10,000 and the rest was distributed
among the trio. It is not an isolated incident. Hundreds of women are
supplied to tourists on houseboats this way ,” she says.
The
young girls are more in demand as they are seen as disease-free by
tourists, according to others in the trade. The agents therefore charge
double for supplying them, pocketing 50 per cent of the amount as
commission. The younger the better for some as Alappuzha appears to have
become a hunting ground for paedophiles as well.
A
2006 a study titled 'Trafficking in Women and Children in India',
conducted by the New Delhi based Institute of Social Sciences and
sponsored by National Human Rights Commission last year found that
Alappuzha was a hotspot for child sex and Kerala had overtaken Goa in
exploiting children.
Most tourists looking for
some 'fun' on the side are top executives who come in search of
houseboat and backwater tourism as it is thought to be safe with no
interference from outside and the police.
While
most girls are unsuspectingly lured into the trade, some college
students see it as a way of making pocket money. “We have identified
1860 sex workers in the district. Some college girls take to the
trade to earn pocket money and lead a luxurious life. A few are from
broken families. Many have come from villages,” he says. Although
effort is made to register these young workers, most shun any kind of
effort to reform them, he regrets.
And although
studies like the one carried out by the likes of the Institute of Social
Sciences have brought the thriving sex racket of Kerala to light,
nothing has changed, even where exploitation of young children is
concerned, with enforcement agencies appearing to wear blinkers where
the problem is concerned. Activists working to fight the trade, wonder
when they will wake up to the fact that their apathy is only fueling
its rise.
Source:DC
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