Why in news
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) issued notice to the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development and the States of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and Gujarat over a practice known as Nata Pratha.
Given the immoral consequences of Nata Pratha on women and minor girls, the Commission has called for its eradication and abolition, says a message issued by the rights body
NHRC suggested that individuals involved in forcing women into Nata Pratha must be prosecuted under laws relating to human trafficking and prosecuted under POCSO Act
Case behind
The Commission’s directions has come following its intervention in a complaint dated July 15, 2020, by the father of a minor girl who claimed that the child was allegedly kidnapped from Rajasthan’s Salamgarh area, in district Pratapgarh.
Her body was found in Danpur, in the district of Banswara.
The Commission through its Investigation Division conducted a spot inquiry.
It was found that the father himself sold her as part of a marriage deal to a man for ₹2.5 lakh.
As part of the Nata Pratha deal signed by their families and witnessed by villagers on July 11, 2019, the groom paid ₹60,000 and the remaining amount was to be paid by January 10, 2020
When the groom failed to pay the remaining amount within the stipulated time, the father brought his daughter back and fixed her ‘Nata’ with another man for ₹32,000.
The girl objected to this and went to live with her earlier husband at Gagarwa.
She also complained to the Banswara SP, alleging that her father was an alcoholic and had made several attempts to fix her ‘Nata’ against her will with many boys to earn money and that he had also threatened to kill her.
The police failed to take any action and she was found dead on June 16, 2020.
What is Nata Pratha
Under 'Nata Pratha', girls in some communities are allegedly 'sold' either on a stamp paper or otherwise in the name of marriage having no legal sanctity in parts of Rajasthan and the adjoining areas in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.
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