After Nirbhaya, MHA uses stricter laws to rescue devadasis

The Nirbhaya tragedy has come to the rescue of devadasi in the country. The Union home ministry has invoked the stringent provisions of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act of 2013, which gave the law more teeth after the Nirbhaya gangrape incident, to act as a deterrent to clamp down on the age-old “devadasi system” which, shockingly, continues to exist in some parts of the country.

A devadasi is a woman dedicated to worship and service of a deity or a temple all her life.

A system long abolished by states but still continuing in certain parts, the NDA government has asked all states to invoke Sections 370 and 370A of the Indian Penal Code under the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act of 2013 to treat all such cases as “sexual exploitation”, besides slapping cases against offenders under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act and invoking penal provisions that deal with selling minors for prostitution.

The ministry of home affairs has said in its advisory to all state governments that in some parts India communities, like the Beriya and Nat, are still following the heinous practice “under the name of religious practice” and degrading women under the devadasi system.