Temptation of cities

A recent video clip that went viral across social media was a rude shock to many as it showed a man physically abusing a woman in an open street. The video also showed some people who tried to intervene but in the end, they couldn’t do much, to stop the beating and hair pulling by the man.The man is from Gujarat who police later identified as Mohsin Hussain Rangrej ; while the un-named woman is reportedly from Nagaland. Mohsin is seen on CCTV thrashing the woman from Nagaland outside a spa on Sindhu Bhavan Road in Bodakdev area. S.M. Patel, assistant commissioner of police, N-division, told The Indian Express, “The complainant, who is from Nagaland, used to work in Galaxy Ladies Spa on Sindhu Bhavan Road in a partnership with Mohsin.” The incident buttressed the notion that women and girls from the region are engaged in such businesses in large numbers. It was also another reminder to several reports in the past, that girls from the north east are targeted by traffickers with allurements and promises of earning big money in beauty parlours or spas etc. Even if they are untrained, the girls are assured they would be given hands-on training with stipend and facilities. The touts fulfil the first part of the promise –job at city beauty parlour – but once night descends the women are forced into prostitution. This has given rise to a phrase: ‘Beauticians by the day and prostitutes by night’. These young women end up being human trafficking victims. Media reports note that there has been large-scale mushrooming of beauty parlours, spas etc in several metro cities and many of them employ women/girls from the North-East as beauticians. More than 70% of beauty parlours, spas and massage parlours and Chinese food joints in some cities employ people from the north east. They are attracted by the lights and sights of bit cities to look for jobs. They are absorbed into low salary jobs but are also considered easy targets. There could be possibly hundreds of women and girls from the state, who are languishing in unwanted situation after being duped and forced to work with meagre salaries and living in terrible conditions. There have been many such instances which were highlighted during past several years by Delhi IPS officer Robin Hibu who runs the NGO Helping Hands for north east people. There is no bar to any woman or girl willing to work in any place but they should be aware of where they are going and whether they are prepared to face the problems. Also, not only girls but also boys who seek greener pasture in cities should be oriented about city life and also obtain basic knowledge about protective rights guaranteed under employment acts so as to protect themselves from being exploited. An effort should be considered to undertake census of how many boys and girls are working outside under private firms. The concept and lure of working in beauty parlours and spas need to be discouraged as there are also many other decent jobs for earning in cities. Also, the state government needs to seriously think about this problem and come up with some measures to protect the youth being enticed by touts operating in the name of skill developers and placement agencies.