Paro in Haryana, India

Paro is a term used for any outsider girl, usually hailing from Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh, who has been 'married' to a Mewati local. It's not a new phenomenon and has existed in this society for years now.

The arrangement is well formulated. Any local boy or man, who is unemployed, poor and landless, handicapped, a divorcee or widower, basically anyone who has a problem getting married locally, procures a girl, usually a minor, from poverty-stricken districts in other states and ‘marries’ her.

The marriage is dubious as they usually don't have any marriage certificates and are simply relationships of convenience. Clearly, all these girls who reach here are being trafficked. Trafficking of women in India is largely for prostitution but a small percentage of them are also trafficked to live as sexual brides in many regions of Haryana, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh.

Mewat is one region where it is done on a large scale. It is the most backward district in Haryana. The problem (of sexual brides) is really grave there due a host of factors. It's a Muslim-dominated area and has a large population. On an average, every family has 8-10 children. It is an archaic society where women have no say and are confined to their homes. There is very little education in this region.

The groom makes no bones about the fact that he got a new bride only for procreation and sexual gratification. The case of sexual brides is a natural corollary of the socio-economic system prevailing in the country. Such unions are of mutual convenience. The men are poor, unemployed, handicapped and cannot get married locally as there are no girls for them in districts with extremely skewed male-female ratios.

Desperate to get girls, they want no dowry and are instead willing to pay the girls' family. The girls are illiterate; their families impoverished due to droughts, famines or cyclones and incapable of offering dowries demanded by boys of their area. So it's a symbiotic relationship.

The men get girls to carry their family name forward and the girl's family is relieved of the burden of dowry. All these Paros come for a price that is cheaper than cattle, mostly Rs. 3000-4000. Some of these Paros have been married to Mewati men for a long time. Several cases of reselling are also coming to the fore. At times, if a man who gets a Paro is not 'satisfied', he sells her again or passes her on to her kinfolk.

In addition to this, the victims are subject to mental and physical violence and are exposed to all kinds of diseases, including sexually Transmitted Infections and HIV/AIDS. Trafficking in all its forms violates the universal human right to life and liberty.