‘Mol ki bahuein’ -- the women Haryana’s men buy as brides -Jyoti Yadav

-ThePrint.in

This report, which won the Laadli Media Award for gender sensitivity this week, explores the lives of women from other parts of India who are bought as brides for Haryana's men.

New Delhi: In 2019, I travelled across Haryana to uncover the ugly truth behind the widely prevalent practice of ‘bride-buying’ in the state, and the scarred lives many of its victims live. These women are called ‘Paro’ and ‘mol ki bahuein’ by local residents.

I met several families with such wives. This report was an attempt to explain how the land of ‘Jat, josh and jameen’ resorted to buying brides to meet a shortage of women spawned by the state’s skewed sex ratio.  

The existence of these women has been reduced to slogans such as ‘Bahu Dilao, Vote Pao (get us a bride, get votes)’ in election campaigns and cheap local songs. However, these women have their own stories to tell, which have been unheard for several years.

Listening to their stories proved as much a revelation about this ghastly trend, which often draws on trafficked women, as the intricate societal and familial relations in Haryana.

Mewat/Rohtak/Jind: Mehbooba, 70, who lives in the Gohana village of Haryana’s Nuh district, only has vague memories of her maternal home in Mumbai that she left 50 years ago to get married. She has never returned since then.

“To reach my village in Mumbai, you have to change many trains and buses and then travel a long distance on foot. Now, I do not remember the exact route,” she told ThePrint.

“My parents may have died by now, I don’t remember them that well either,” she added.

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This report was originally published on 17 August 2019.