annual report print final.qxd - Asian Centre for Human Rights

INDIA HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2005 West Bengal
also other forms of exploitation (emphasis
ours)”. 62
Other forms of exploitation are all
pervasive in tea plantations which have
been closed down. Women labourers of the
Kanthalguri tea estate have reportedly
resorted to prostitution as the only way out
of stark poverty. Having sold its leaves, its
trees for firewood, and even the furniture,
doors and windowpanes of the manager’s
bungalow, they have been virtually left
with nothing to earn from. A 25-year-old
gardener-turned-prostitute Ratia Oraon
(name changed), remarked, “There is
nothing left now, so we have taken to this
profession. It is better than seeing my little
brother die without eating.” Her main
customers come from Chamurchi,
Haldibari, Mahabir tea estates,
neighbouring gardens of Kanthalguri tea
estate where she belongs. She was
reportedly paid Rs 30 for an hour of
service to a client. 63
The state government attempted to
start developmental schemes in the estates
only after being prodded by the Supreme
Court more than a year after the gardens
stopped operations. 64 On 22 June 2004,
State Human Rights Commission sought a
report from the State Government on what
measures it proposed to initiate to check
poverty-related deaths reported from the
tea gardens of North Bengal. As starvation
engulfed, the oldest profession,
prostitution turned out to be the last
recourse for many of the victims. ■
273