Raped in Chitrakoot: Minor girls forced to trade bodies during lockdown

In independent India, rampant poverty is one of the worst forms of tortures and living in poverty is a curse. Just toiling hard to make ends meet is not enough. In exchange for a few morsels of food and some money, the powerful and the wealthy don’t hesitate to trade off young girls and sexually exploit them.

About 700 km from the national capital in Uttar Pradesh’s Bundelkhand region is Chitrakoot. Here, minor girls from poor tribal families are forced to work in illegal mines for survival but the contractors and middlemen don’t pay them their wages easily. These girls have to trade off their bodies in exchange for their meagre wages.