The interim report released by Mrs. Jyotsna Chatterji, President of the Bangalore unit of the Devadasi Mukti Bahini, at a news conference in Bangalore has once for all proved that this barbarous practice of sexual exploitation of untouchable girls is not dead as claimed by the Karnataka Government, but very much alive and kicking.
The on-the-spot study conducted by two women who visited Belgaum, Bijapur and other districts revealed the existence of this institution of prostitution promoted in the name of Hindu religion through its temples. The practice is mostly confined to untouchables who fall victim because of religious superstition combined with poverty. The Karnataka Government has not even recognised the existence of the problem let alone doing anything. Neither any women’s organisation took any interest in the Devadasi, though it is essentially a women’s problem. Rotarians, Lions, Tigers, and Bisons clubs are indifferent.
