A 10-year-old girl from Karnataka, who was forced into the Devadasi system by her parents and a local temple priest five years ago, was rescued by officials on Thursday.
A joint operation by Kalaburagi District Child Welfare Committee (CWC), Child Helpline and officials of the Department of Women and Child Development rescued the girl, who studies in Class 5.
According to reports, she was forced into the system five years ago and is a resident of a village in Kalaburagi.
Members of Childline and the other officials rushed to the village on Thursday, after learning that efforts were on to send the 10-year-old girl with a man.
Vittal Chikani, a social activist and member of the CWC, told The Hindu over phone,
The girl's parents and the priest Sharanappa (70) of Samavva temple reportedly confessed to the crime. The priest even claimed that he has been performing Devadasi ritual for the past forty years and had inducted more than 1,000 girls into being Devadasis. The girl's parents had agreed to make their daughter a Devadasi on the advice of the priest.
CV Raman, Child Protection Officer, told The Hindu,
While the girl's parents and the priest were taken to Kalagi police station, the girl was sent to a state home.
The Hindu reports that two primary school teachers, despite knowing about the incident, had kept silent. Ujjwal Kumar Ghosh, Deputy Commissioner, said that this amounted to dereliction of duty by public servants and that they would be named in the FIR.
Devadasi literally means Servant of God and once the young girl is married off to the deity, she is sent with a man after she attains puberty. However, the girl is not married off to the man, since she has "offered" herself to the deity.
Earlier in October 2016, a similar case was reported from Raichur district. In this case, the woman suffered physical disabilities and told police that she had voluntarily "offered" herself to the deity.
Prior to this in February 2016, the Supreme Court had taken note of the practice which continues to be prevalent in many states. A Bench of Justices FMI Kalifulla and SA Bobde directed all states and union territories, especially Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Andhra Pradesh, to strictly enforce the Centre’s law to check “undesired and unhealthy” practice of forcing young girls to serve as Devadasis, The Hindu reported in February that year.
(This article was originally published on The News Minute and has been republished with permission.)
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