By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 18 Apr: Representatives of various NGOs working on women’s empowerment today submitted a memorandum to Chairperson of Uttarakhand State Women’s Commission, Kusum Kandwal, demanding that rules and guidelines for spas and massage parlours be strictly enforced so that exploitation of women and human trafficking through these commercial outlets could be prevented.
The delegation was led by Chief Executive Officer of Empowering People Society, Gyanendra Kumar.
Kumar stressed that places like spas and massage parlours were presently being used for human trafficking and they had become joints for prostitution and immoral activities. Most such parlours and spa centres were owned by people with immense power and influence and the women employed in these centres did not usually have the courage to protest as they were threatened.
Kumar and the representatives of other NGOs present also insisted that a large number of complaints were regarding forced prostitution and therefore it had become very important for the government to formulate rules and regulations and guidelines to run the spa centres and massage parlours so that exploitation of women, in particular, of young girls could be curbed. They also urged that it be made mandatory that no woman below 18 years of age is employed in such places. It was also desirable to mandate that men be given massage at these parlours by men only and women served by women.
The delegation included Suresh Uniyal of Bachpan Bachao Andolan, Jehangir Alam of MAC Sanstha, Mansi Mishra of Samarpan Sanstha, Shamina Siddiqui from District Legal Services Authority, Laxmi Panwar of Your Bright Future, Nidhi Kukreti of Shri Bhuvaneshwari Mahila Ashram, Sangeeta Singh of Sangini Society and Isha David Sati of Empowering People.
