Rescued child sex workers reveal hidden cells in Indian brothels
NEW DELHI: A ladder propped against a stained wall leads up into a dark passage on the second floor of an Indian brothel, lined by a series of locked doors. Hidden inside are tiny cubicles, stashed with sex workers’ clothes, blankets, cosmetics and condoms. The barely-lit passageway meanders along, intersected by many other dank corridors, and arrives at a trap door, which swings open to reveal another secret space, rarely seen by clients or outsiders. “They are actually meant to deceive and hide,” one sex worker said quietly. “A person can get lost and then simply disappear.”
Trafficked young girls are being “broken into prostitution” and hidden from the law - behind a maze of passages and secret cells in crumbling brothels across New Delhi and other major cities, campaigners say. Of an estimated 20 million commercial prostitutes in India, 16 million women and girls are victims of sex trafficking, according to campaigners. Thousands of children, largely from poor families, are lured or abducted by traffickers every year, and sold on to pimps and brothels who force them into sexual slavery. “These tehkhanas (hidden cells) harbor minors and have also become an escape route for them when there are raids,” said Swati Jai Hind, head of the Delhi Commission for Women, which has rescued 57 girls this year.
“We get specific tip-offs about children being brought here but when we come for rescue, we sometimes find no girls - they vanish.” The government has introduced a number of measures to combat sex trafficking - from strengthening laws to boosting social welfare schemes. But reports of young girls being sold for sex and hidden in labyrinths are rising, campaigners say. “There are increasing cases where girls are describing life inside these dark and dirty places,” said Rishi Kant of the anti-slavery charity Shakti Vahini. “We were part of a rescue where a seemingly regular cupboard led to a hidden passage from where girls were found. Urgent action is needed.”