Going, going, gone

In April 1981, an Indian Express correspondent shocked the nation by proving that women can be acquired in this country in a transaction ...

In April 1981, an Indian Express correspondent shocked the nation by proving that women can be acquired in this country in a transaction similar to that of getting a kilo of potatoes from the vegetable market. He 8220;bought8221; Kamala, a poor, emaciated mother of six from Dabri Mandi, Madhya Pradesh, for the sum of Rs 2,300. It was widowhood, poverty, the ill-treatment from her in-laws, and the need to keep her children alive, that drove Kamala into the flesh market.

In time, Kamala came to symbolise the pathetic situation of many Indian women and the peculiar hypocrisies that mark popular attitudes to them. Women, even as they are worshipped as goddesses, continue to be used and abused in a myriad ways. Creators of fiction like Maharashtra8217;s renowned playwright, Vijay Tendulkar, attem-pted to highlight just such contradictions and ironies in their theatre adaptations of the Kamala story.

Real life was as usual stranger and more cruel than anything that fiction could have conjured up. Eighteen yearslater, the Kamalas of the country continue to be bought and sold in the marketplace. On Wednesday, this newspaper once again carried a searing investigation into the auctioning of women, this time in a dusty little Andhra Pradesh town called Eluru. Like African slaves in another place, in another era, these unfortunate beings are paraded before bidders and handed over on one-year leases to the men who quote the highest prices for them.

The bidders, in turn, prostitute the women they8217;ve 8220;bought8221;. Their nefarious network, comprising largely people from the Bhogam and Dommara communities of the state, touches regions far removed from Eluru. Men arrive from places like the temple town of Tirupati or the coastal area of Chirala, to participate in these quarterly auctions. What8217;s intriguing about this whole sordid saga is the attitude of the local authorities. Every now and then they swing into action and arrest the local prostitutes for their 8220;immoral conduct8221; and 8220;obscene acts8221;, even as they handle thebrothel-owners with kid gloves. The figures speak for themselves.

While 912 women were booked by the police over the last 10 months or so, only 19 cases were registered against the brothel-owners. What8217;s more, the administrators seem quite oblivious of these inhuman auctions that are taking place right under their very noses. Either that, or they find it more convenient to turn a blind eye to these activities.

So what does Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, the computer savvy CEO of the state and the man voted as one of the world8217;s best politicians, have to say about such developments in his backyard? Or is he so busy building cyberbads that he has no time to ensure that such incidents do not occur in his state? Eluru should remind Naidu that there is life beyond the Internet and Bill Gates. Indeed, if he wants to look progressive and committed, he would be wise to ensure that the women of his state get a better deal than they seem to be getting at the moment. His father-in-law, NTR, clearly recognisedthis simple fact of life and it8217;s time Naidu did as well.