Celebrated at birth, pushed into sex work

“It was when my girls turned five and seven,” she says. “I had decided that my daughters would never live the life I had. They would live with dignity.”Although she continued in the profession for a few more years due to family responsibilities — her husband, who was one of her clients, abandoned the family years ago — Savitri eventually quit. Now, about 10 years later, her elder daughter works with an NGO and is preparing to write the police exam, while her younger daughter is preparing for medical entrance tests in Indore.The family belongs to the Banchhada community, a de-notified tribe with an estimated population of 25,000 spread across 78 villages in the districts of Mandsaur, Neemuch, and Ratlam in western Madhya Pradesh.Unlike Savitri’s daughters, most girls in the community are born into a system in which their families expect them to enter sex work — a practice passed down over generations. According to several members of the community and NGOs in the region, while many Indians celebrate the birth of a boy over a girl, the Banchhadas welcome a girl with sweets and firecrackers. As girls grow up, they receive better nutrition than boys. They are given expensive clothes and, unlike in much of India, are not told that they will have to marry one day and leave the nest.The reason, however, is disturbing: for generations, the Banchhada girls have been pushed into sex work upon hitting puberty and given the responsibility of earning. Their family members function as pimps and live off their money.Akash Chouhan, founder of the Jan Shaurya Social Welfare and Development Society, an NGO based in Neemuch, estimates that at least 10,000 women of the community, including about 3,000 girls, remain trapped in this form of exploitation. “Girls are forced to drop out of school after Class 8 or 9 and are pushed into sex work by their families,” says Akash, who is from the community. “Community elders protect the practice in the name of tradition.”Radhika, a sex worker, says girls are conditioned from childhood to believe in the tradition. They are told it is their responsibility to ease the family’s financial woes. “I quit school on my own after Class 9 and began working,” she says. “But if a girl refuses to quit, her family forces her into sex work through physical or emotional abuse.”Abuse along the highwayA drive along State Highway 156, which connects the three districts, passes through several villages of the community. Girls wearing bright lipstick stand along the way, while older women sit on cots outside their houses and shanties, watching children playing nearby. As evening approaches, they gesture to men to come in.In Neemuch’s Jaitpura village, an elderly woman approaches a car parked on the roadside and asks if anyone would like to come in. She points to three girls sitting outside her house; two of them are her granddaughters. “You can pick either of them and go into the house,” she tells them. “It will cost you ₹300 for 10 minutes, but I will take ₹100 as my tip. The room has a fan; you will be comfortable.”Most girls along the highway, including those who look underage, say that they are around 20; some say they recently turned 18. Conversations with them reveal that they have been involved in sex work for about four years.Multiple dhabas along the highway are also involved in brokering deals between prospective clients and sex workers. The owner of a highway dhaba in Ratlam’s Dhodar village claims he can “arrange girls” and lists different price brackets based on location, duration, and the girl’s age. Standing near a toll booth, he lists the facilities available, including an air-conditioned room, car parking, and assurances o