Devadasi: quando a prostituição é disfarçada de religião na Índia
Huvakka Bhimappa não tinha nem 10 anos quando foi oferecida por seus pais à deusa hindu da fertilidade. Como uma "iniciação", foi estuprada pelo tio, e então os anos de escravidão sexual começaram. A menina se tornou o que é conhecido no sul da Índia como 'devadasi'.
Bhimappa was not yet 10 years old when she became a "devadasi" -- girls coerced by their parents into an elaborate wedding ritual with a Hindu deity, many of whom are then forced into illegal prostitution.
Four decades after the state ban, there are still more than 70,000 devadasis in Karnataka, India's human rights commission wrote last year.
Bhimappa was not yet 10 years old when she became a "devadasi" -- girls coerced by their parents into an elaborate wedding ritual with a Hindu deity, many of whom are then forced into illegal prostitution.
Four decades after the state ban, there are still more than 70,000 devadasis in Karnataka, India's human rights commission wrote last year.