Rescue and rehabilitation or resucue from rehabilitation?

[Guest guest]

RESCUE AND REHABILITATION OR RESCUE FROM

REHABILITATION?

If you see a baby drowning, you jump to

save it; and if you see a second and

third, you do the same. Soon you are so

busy saving drowning babies, you never

lookup to see there is someone there

throwing these babies in the river

clandestinely.

Recently the District Administration in

the District of Cuddapah, in Andhra

Pradesh rescued some ¡°Trafficked Women¡±

from Pune and Mumbai (most of them belong

to migrant and tribal communities). These

communities are unique and different from

the mainstream and have a separate set of

norms, behavior and ways of living.

At the outset, the Govt. has openly

declared that they ¡°rescued¡± 45 women from

these places as compared to a maximum of

4 persons, in the past in A.P. Now do the

numbers really matter or should the focus

be on the rescue itself and such process

humane and humble?

These rescued women were counseled and

put in a State-run home. Women should

have had the opportunity to express

themselves freely and frankly and be in a

position to express what she wants as a

rehabilitation package. Please trust the

women¡¯s capacity to freely think for

themselves, and make decisions on their

own. They should be given space and time

to think and decide for themselves.

There was enough ¡°concern¡± about imparting

vocation skills to them but were there

efforts to sensitize the environment and

surroundings to accept them? Change plan

should not be abrupt, sudden and forced

on the women. Or do we expect situations

to alter overnight?

The media promptly barged in and jumped

on to the bandwagon. Photographs were

taken and printed. They matched the

District Administration in displaying a

condescending attitude. Do woman have a

chance for reintegration into mainstream

when their faces are splashed all over

dailies? If the shelter of ¡°anonymity¡± is

unfurled for traffickers, brokers and the

customers, why is it that the same is not

extended to the victims? Does their

powerlessness make them so vulnerable? Is

it not a conflict of obligation against

advantage?

Why is it that only poverty is expressed

when debating about prostitution? Other

complex and inter-related issues that

patronize prostitution such as

destitution, indebtedness, ill treatment

of the in-laws, etc never figures. Should

we not tackle the whole lot of these

issues simultaneously to prevent more

from entering? As long as these factors

continue to haunt women prostitution will

flourish.

The truth behind the rescue is that the

police used the third degree on the

parents and close relatives of the women,

who were least bothered to have the women

back since they were the cause for the

women to flee in the first place. The

authorities know that some communities

barter sex for survival as a custom and

they are socially sanctioned. The

individual is left in a confused state

when social conditioning conflicts with

state laws, though both do not allow the

individuals to be themselves, and in that

context remain irrelevant to the women.

The close relatives were made to come to

the police station and sign everyday, and

were regularly threatened of dire

consequences unless they ensured the

return of these women from Pune / Mumbai.

The police have a stake either way the

coin spins, whether the women trafficked

or the act of rescue. On the one side

women are indiscriminately arrested by

the police, and false charges foisted on

them with the vehemence of conviction

that they are prostitutes and so should

suffer. A volte face is made when they

are involved in the rescue act, when they

mouth sympathies, basking in the

limelight of the media.

The women in sex work and their

supporters informed the Press about the

grass-root realities. The means are as

important as the ends, and short cuts for

convenience can be counter-productive and

in instances of dealing with human

beings, destructive.

The ¡°rescued¡± women have already started

protesting against the biased treatment

meted out. The Press has reported their

objections to such brash acts of ¡°rescue¡±.

The women have started voicing their

concerns. It is a good beginning. Let us

stand by them.

Regards

Anonmymous

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[Guest guest]

I am fascinated by this anonymous posting and I hope that the group that gave

voice to what is clearly another potential whistle-blowing event in Indian

social policy will contact me again personally.

I am coming to Kerala State to talk about prostitution issues and it seems that

this is another similar double victimisation.

Please send me a private message

Geoffrey Heaviside

E-mail:<gheaviside@...>

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[Guest guest]

I totally agree with you and strongly feel that the question of rescue and

rehabilitation should undergo a unanimous transition period and should have

a common approach agreed by all groups working for the cause. I hope you

involve us as FARS the group working for the betterment of sex workers also

while you address the issue at Kerala; looking forward to the same;

regards

shyamala ashok

sfdrt - pondy

E-mail:<aabinand@...>

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