Church groups have expressed concern over reported recruitment of girls from the northeast as “escorts” in the Commonwealth Games.“We have no problem if the girls are recruited for a good purpose. But if they are being used unethically, we condemn it,” said Reverend Khari Longchar, spokesperson of Nagaland Baptist Church Council.
The Church official was reacting to reports alleging that thousands of young women from the region had been lured to the Indian capital promised jobs but instead pushed into the flesh trade during the Oct. 3-14 games.
Reverend Longchar said his Church would “caution parents who allow their children to take up outside jobs.”
Madhu Chandra of the New Delhi-based North East Helpline says women from the region are being widely used during the ongoing games.
According to him, some 70,000 women from northeastern India work in the National Capital Region, comprising Delhi and surrounding districts of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh states.
“Our girls are honest, ignorant and innocent of the evil designs of escort companies,” Chandra said. “It is not time for us to be complacent,” he added.
Reverend P.B.M Basaiamoit, general secretary of the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI), said the women commission of Meghalaya state has taken up the matter.
Meghalaya, Nagaland and Mizoram are Christian-majority states in northeastern India. Four other states that are part of the region also have sizeable Christian populations.
Reverend Basaiamoit said NCCI, the national association of Protestant and Orthodox Churches in India, condemns some “scrupulous” groups misusing “our girls.”
He wants the Delhi chief minister, a woman, to look into the matter.
Chandra says his center suspects that several girls in its network are trapped.
“Whenever their mobile rings it is switched off. They may be working as escort or call girls,” he added.
SIC: CTH/INDIA