NHRC seeks report on ‘sale of underage girls’ as part of ‘Nata Pratha’

• The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) issued notices to the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development and various States over a practice known as ‘Nata Pratha’.

Highlights:

• Nata Pratha involves selling on a stamp paper or marrying off underage girls from some communities.
  • These sales and marriages are usually conducted by their own families.
• Given the immoral consequences of ‘Nata Pratha’ on women and minor girls, the Commission has called for its eradication and abolition
• The States have been directed to submit a report on measures taken or proposed to be taken in this regard within eight weeks.
• The commission’s research wing observed that the ‘Nata Pratha’ is comparable to modern forms of prostitution.
• Among various measures, it suggested that besides enacting a law, individuals involved in forcing women into ‘Nata Pratha’ must be prosecuted under laws relating to human trafficking.
• The sale of minor girls should be prosecuted under the POCSO Act.
• It also suggested setting up a group at the village level to register cases of ‘Nata Pratha’ in addition to building awareness and providing education and employment to improve the economic and social status of girls and women.

Prelims Takeaway

• Nata Pratha
• POCSO Act