The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Only one conviction under Devadasi Act so far

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Karnataka - Bangalore

Only one conviction under Devadasi Act so far

Special Correspondent

— Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

Low count: President of National Commission for Women Nirmala Venkatesh (right) and president of National Alliance for Women Ruth Manorama interacting with participants at the seminar in Bangalore on Wednesday.

Bangalore: The Karnataka Devadasi (Prevention of Devadasi) Act was notified in 1982. But the number of cases booked under it so far is no more than 85, and there has been conviction in only one case involving three people in Belgaum district.

Speaking at a seminar on the Devadasi system organised by the National Commission for Women, Secretary of the Women and Child Welfare Department D.S. Ashwath, said that conviction rates were low because there was lack of evidence in most cases. A proposal to amend the Act by making the penalty clause more stringent is pending before the Centre, he added.

A survey done by the Department of Women and Child Development on the Devadasi system (under which young girls are married to the village deity and are expected to serve the priest and other powerful people in the village) has identified as many as 22,873 Devadasis in the 10 northern districts of Karnataka. Mr. Ashwath said that many proposals are on the anvil to improve the living conditions of former Devadasis, the latest being a housing scheme..

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