Aug 31, 2003: Don’t have son? Buy a new wife  
 
In a land where a sheep costs Rs 1,000 and a cow almost Rs 14,000, a girl is available for anything between Rs 2,000 and Rs 10,000. The price depends on the physical condition of the girl and the paying capacity of the buyer. Since girls from Jammu and Kashmir have fair complexion, they are sold off for Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000, to rich men, especially widowers, to physically challenged persons, or those who are unable to have a male child from their first wives. The “dark-complexion” girls from Assam, Bihar and West Bengal are meant for “sale” to landless and poor customers.

New girls are brought every month from the states mentioned above and are sold off in a radius of about 80 km around the Capital. The region’s infamy in this trade also attracts “customers” from nearby states of Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030901/main1.htm 
Ruchika M. Khanna
Tribune News Service

Nearly a month after the police busted a human trafficking racket in Hathin block of Faridabad district, the trade in sale of girls continues unabated in this region of the state. It is back to business in Mewat, which has acquired notoriety as one of the biggest markets of girls from Assam, Bihar, West Bengal and Jammu and Kashmir.

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In village Malab Nuh of Gurgaon district, this correspondent came across two girls, 13-year-old Tahira and 17-year-old Ayesha Siddiqa, who had been sold off to 40-year-old Hassan and his 20-year-old mentally deranged nephew, Asru respectively, on August 22. The girls, both from Bildang in West Bengal, were bought for Rs 3,000 each. The family says that since Ayesha Siddiqa was not very good looking, she was bought for Asru, while Tahira was bought for Hassan, whose first wife had deserted him.

Though these “bought brides” enjoy social acceptance, language remains a barrier for several years. Since most of them come from poverty-stricken homes, they are comparatively happy here — with their basic needs being fulfilled. Also, with their “husbands” willing to help their families back home, these women say that life could not have been better.