News Excerpt:
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) seeks a report on the ‘sale of underage girls’ as part of ‘Nata Pratha’.
More about the news:
- A case has recently come to light whereby a father sold his minor daughter to the groom in return for money.
- Under ‘Nata Pratha’, girls in some communities are allegedly “sold” either on a stamp paper or otherwise in the name of marriage having no legal sanctity in parts of Rajasthan and the adjoining areas in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.
- The National Human Rights Commission in a statement said that given the “unethical and immoral consequences” of the ‘Nata Pratha’ on women and minor girls, the commission has called for its eradication and abolition and issued notices to the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development and the four state governments.
- The NHRC on-spot inquiry team also suggested that the state government should enact a law to stop the social evil of ‘Nata Pratha’.
- NRHC has also suggested an urgent need to address this social evil through a multi-faceted strategy as it violated basic human rights.
- The research wing observed that the ‘Nata Pratha’ is comparable to “modern forms of prostitution”. Among various measures, it suggested that besides enacting a law, the individuals involved in forcing women to go for ‘Nata Pratha’ must be prosecuted under laws relating to human trafficking and for selling the minor girls under the relevant provision of The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act) to check this menace.
Acceptance of Nata Pratha:
- The centuries-old custom “Nata Pratha” remains alive in several Indian states like Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh.
- It is usually practiced by the Bhil tribe, one of the largest tribes in South Asia.
- This custom helps empower women by allowing them to leave their husbands if they are unhappy with them but also results in children from the previous marriage being abandoned by their parents.
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About the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences, 2012 (POCSO):
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