The 'devdasi' system is "far from dead" and to avoid publicity, the dedication ceremonies have shifted from the main temples to the house of priests or smaller temples, according to a recently released report commissioned by the National Human Rights Commission.
"Girls belonging to low caste continue to be dedicated by innocent and vulnerable parents with the connivance of priests," states the Report on Prevention of Atrocities Against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
"The devdasi system is also helped to continue due to the extreme poverty of scheduled caste families who, under compulsion of circumstances when even religious begging does not bring enough income to have sustenance, allow this practice as a means of getting some income or gifts," says the study.
The practice of "divine prostitution" continues and has become even more commercialised, but the laws banning the practice have several loopholes due to which it is difficult to take legal action against the offenders, it says.
"It has been reported that not a single case has been booked under the Karnataka Devdasis Prohibition Act against priests despite many complaints and admonitions to that effect," says the study prepared by retired bureaucrat K B Saxena.
"The cases of devdasis being pushed into brothels need to be thoroughly investigated by a specially constituted team of police officers supported by social activists to break the nexus between traffickers and priests," says the report.
Implementation of the laws against the tradition as well as rehabilitation of liberated devdasis in various states have also been unsatisfactory.
"The police does not have power to act suo-motu under the act," the report says, also noting that the victims do not come forward to complain.
