By H H Mohrmen
Recently, West Jaiñtia hills district and Jowai town in particular has been in the news regarding a crime that occurred at Mihmyntdu, a village in the suburbs of the District Headquarter. The credit goes to the police of West Jaiñtia Hills District for being able to unearth the flesh trade ring which has been operating in the District for quite some time now. Those involved in the crime were booked but the question that remains unanswered is about the victims of the crime.
Of course prostitution in not a new trade; it is one of the oldest concerns that humans have faced since time immemorial and not very long ago such cases were also reported from the East Jaiñtia hills, during the hey-day of coal business. The question is why this particular case grabbed headlines and that too for several days consecutively? What is so special about this particular case that it caught the interest of the people for a considerable period of time?
It was reported that as many as 24 sex workers were involved in the recent case of flesh trade near Jowai, and what is utterly shocking is the fact that 9 out of 24 females who were engaged in the trade were minors. If this is not a cause of alarm for the community then this society is incapable of comprehending the gravity of this case. Ignorance is not bliss in this case. There were questions raised that as to why only clients who use their services were arrested, while the sex workers were allowed to go free? The point is because they are still minors and it is a crime to have sexual intercourse with minors even with their consent.
It is of course no surprise if adult women are engaged in the trade, but this flesh trade case is different because minor girls aged between 16 and 18 were involved in the illegal activity. The police were able to uncover the case after they received an FIR filed by the family of one missing girl and this led them to the trail of a business which also involved women who run this business. It was reported that the FIR was also filed one month after the girl had disappeared from the place where she lived and once the police found the lead, they uncovered the underbelly of the crime which runs deep in the society.
The truth that as many as nine minors were involved in the trade should be a cause of grave concern for every right thinking citizen of this state. The question is, why would minor girls have to involve in a trade such as this? We have heard stories that women were forced into the sex trade because of circumstances which compel them to do so. Most often single mothers who have no other means to support their family are found to engage in the activity. There are also stories of women who are shunned by their families or stigmatized by the society who end up in prostitution, but the question is why would young girls engage in the act?
Perhaps initially, these minors were forced into prostitution, but what about later or the subsequent episodes? It could be about money, but still one fails to understand why they have to sell themselves that too at a very young age for the sake of money. What compels them to take this far-reaching step is a question that every one of us needs to ask and try to find answers to. But whatever the reason, the fact that minors were also engaged in the activity, the clients and the people who run this trade should be held responsible for forcing minor girls into the crime.
In the course of conversations there are people who suggest that perhaps, if the trade is legalised then it would help reduce the number of rape cases which have been occurring very frequently in the state. Well, that is a wild conjecture. This debate has been going on for ages, but even if it is legalised, it is still illegal to use minor girls and boys in the trade. With regards to this particular case, the need of the hour is to make men folk and the society as a whole aware, that it is a crime to have sexual relationships with minors.
Some weeks ago I met a social worker who works on drug addiction. She informed me that some of the women who are involved in the case were her patients. Now this adds another dimension to the already complex problem. If some of the victims are also drug users then the other cause of concern for those who follow this case is the spread of HIV AIDS. Jaiñtia Hills both East and West already have a considerable numbers of people affected with the disease and this numbers is increasing every day. It is common knowledge that sex trade and drugs are a dangerous concoction, therefore this case is very serious and should be a matter of grave concern for the state and its people.
It is also heartening to know that the Police of West Jaintia Hills have taken the initiative to curb drugs menace which is rampant in the society, and now with this development the Police will have to work harder to keep the society safe. But the question is whether the Police alone can tackle this problem without the support of the society? Or is it just the responsibility of the police to solve a problem as big as this?
The question for the concerned citizens of the society is : What are we going to do now? It is easy to just blame the victims and their families for what has happened and abandon them altogether. But is it right to put the blame for what has happened squarely on the victims and their families? What about the society? What have we done to protect the minors and the most vulnerable members of our society? Have we done enough to prevent minor girls from getting introduced to crimes such as this?
There is a famous African adage which says; ‘It takes the whole village to raise a child,’ and there is so much truth in the maxim. This same idea that we all belong to one community and we are responsible for the wellbeing of all, used to prevail in the Khasi Pnar society, but now that shared responsibility is gradually vanishing.
A boy was once brought to the village court for stealing a loaf of bread. When the judge heard the case, the boy told him that he stole the bread because he had not eaten for days together. When the judge pronounced his order, he got the boy punished for the crime he had committed, but he also fined, the leaders of the community and all those present in the court that day. In his order he said, “I fine you all because what kind of village is this, where a boy has to steal to feed himself?’ We are part of the society and we are responsible for the well-being of its members.
From what was reported, it is obvious that the community, the churches and other stake holders have failed them. We have failed them once, can we fail them again? The issue of minors getting into sex trade should not be the concern of the Police, the NGO which runs Child Line or the women police of Jowai only; it should be a collective responsibility of each and every one of us. We used to be proud of our tribal social structure which serves as a buffer of support and sustains the society. Our common goal is ‘ka bhalang ka imlang sahlang’ (common good of all). We need to go back to our roots and reclaim what we have lost. It is all there in the society, we only need scratch a little and rekindle the spirit of belongingness in the tribal society.