Fake site offers girls for ‘ every taste’
Spoof website wanted people to see how real the problem of sex trafficking is in India
Afake website offering girls to cater to “every taste and pocket” clocked up more than 1,000 subscribers on its first day, highlighting the challenge of tackling sex trafficking in India.
Stay Uncle website launched the spoof site — staylaid.com — after tiring of requests from clients to procure a sexworker.
“We get nearly 3,000 calls every month from people asking for a partner along with a room. It was important to initiate this conversation,” Sanchit Sethi, founder of Stay Uncle, said.
“We wanted people to see how real the problem of trafficking is ... how victims are affected. In our understanding, therewas no better way than creating a fake website. It is only through technology that you can reach the masses.” Hotels and home rental services such as Airbnb have launched measures to tackle trafficking as concerns mount over their properties being used to exploit vulnerable women and girls.
More than 8,000 cases of human trafficking were reported in India in 2016, up 20 per cent on the previous year, government data shows.
The website listed about a dozen girls and their physical attributes, adding that some had joined voluntarily while others were “procured from remote areas of India such as Assam and West Bengal by trusted brokers and promised big dreams”.
Subscribers then received an email explaining thousands of women are forced into sex slavery in India, calling for greater awareness to bring about change.
Many poor victims are lured by traffickers with promises of good jobs, only to find themselves sold to brothels, forced towork in fields or brick kilns or enslaved in homes as domestic workers.
Hasina Kharbhih, founder of anti- trafficking charity, Impulse NGO Network, called on Stay Uncle towork more closely with established campaigners.
“Their idea might be good, but there was much confusion in the anti- trafficking sector last night on whether this was real,” she said.