OUTREACH: Rescuing India's Child Prostitutes
MUMBAI, India - Girls as young as 12 are sold as sex slaves into India's thriving sex-trade industry. But one man is not just standing by and watching; he is going in and rescuing these girls. Anson Thomas has rescued hundreds of girls over the years, but now some are trying to stop him, with the accusation of forcefully converting girls to Christianity.
CBN News caught up with Thomas in the 'red light' district of Mumbai, during one of his daring rescues. Thomas said, "This is the place where I come meet the children, meet the girls; this is one of the lanes. There are so many lanes like this, where young girls are forced into prostitution. You see [the]… brothels which are locked … where, once the girls are inside, they cannot come out of it."
Thomas is not afraid to walk through Mumbai's infamous 'red light' district. That is because many recognize the man who always carries a Bible. He has been here so many times before, he has gotten to know the residents, many of them prostitutes and the children of prostitutes.
The 38-year-old Thomas is also well known as a national hockey player. He plays for the Indian Customs Department, where he works. But his real passion is not found on this field, but in the slums, the alleys and the seediest parts of Mumbai, where he boldly takes on brothel owners and corrupt police officers, to rescue young women and girls from forced prostitution.
Thomas said, "I, on my own, cannot rescue girls, but it is God who has called me and anointed me to do this work, to be a light in darkness."
For the last seven years, Thomas has rescued between 500 and 600 young women from these brothels. The day we interviewed him, another rescue went down, thanks to a tip from Thomas to the police.
When asked if he was afraid, Thomas replied, "There is danger, but when God is with you, who can be against you? And you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. He will guide you even unto death, so if something is going to happen to us without the knowledge of God, nothing can happen."
On this day, 16 young women gained their freedom, but hundreds of thousands more remain captive, trapped in India's thriving sex-trade industry. Experts say the number of prostitutes in India is close to eight million. More than a million of those are believed to be children and adolescents.
Prostitution is actually legal in India, but sexual exploitation, or the abuse of persons for commercial purposes, is illegal under the country's Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act of 1986. But that law is not enforced, and on a sweltering Friday afternoon, the girls stand openly in the doorways of the brothels, but when they see the camera, many cover their faces, perhaps for fear of family members knowing where they are and what they are doing; perhaps, in shame.
In Mumbai, girls are lured from all over India with the promise of good jobs and a better life, but once here, those dreams quickly turn into nightmares. They are sold by agents, or even family members, to brothels as sex slaves for as little as 50,000 rupees or just $1,100 dollars.
Seventeen-year-old Samata, not her real name, was one of those girls. Her aunt sold her to a brothel at the tender age of 14. Fortunately, she had only been in the brothel a couple of weeks when Thomas helped rescue her. The brothel keepers that held her received a 10-year conviction. Samata was placed in a home for girls, and recently, Thomas and his partner James John, helped her find training as a beautician.
Samata said, "I used to always pray to God that He would help me, so that I could work and learn, and He would give me the strength that whatever I learn, I could retain it. And God has given me all that."
"Once these girls are rescued," said Thomas, "I see that they are rehabilitated, follow them up wherever they are placed - in the government home or in the private institution - and even help them get a job."
But not everyone is happy with the work of Thomas. In recent weeks, brothel owners and members of the Hindu political party Shiv Sena accused Thomas of unlawfully converting Hindu prostitutes to Christianity. At his home in central Mumbai, Hindu politician Bal Kalsekar showed us a Bible and some Christian literature Thomas had handed out to the prostitutes, as "evidence" against him.
Kalsekar said, "Anson Thomas went to the trouble of getting the Bibles in the same language as the girls, so he was definitely trying to force the girls to convert. Our supreme Hindu leader has never asked the Jains, the Muslims or the Christians to convert to Hinduism, so why should we allow anybody else to ask Hindus to convert to their religion?"
CBN News asked Kalsekar what his group is doing to try and help rehabilitate these girls. He replied, "We're making sure the girls with children don't come out on the streets, and as far as they do their work inside the four walls, we've got nothing against that."
When asked, "So, you'd rather see these girls - 14, 15, 16, raped on a daily basis and forced to have sex, rather than be converted?" Kalsekar denied that young girls were being raped, and instead answered the question with another question.
He asked, "Who is giving Thomas, a social worker, the right to do what he's doing? The police have the right to go and conduct raids, but who is giving the right to Thomas?"
Thomas admitted handing out Bibles to the prostitutes, but denied he was trying to convert anyone.
Thomas said, "The complaint was made by the brothel keepers because they saw that the business was being affected, and so they made these allegations on me. How can I forcefully covert anyone into Christianity? What I've been doing is sharing the love of God, that God loves these girls."
Police warned Thomas to refrain from giving Hindu child prostitutes Bibles and delivering sermons. There are anti-conversion laws in effect in some parts of India, but not in Mumbai. Nevertheless, police admit conversion is a volatile issue here.
Naval Bajaj, Deputy Police Commissioner of Mumbai, said, "And the moment there's a perceived angle of threat, it becomes even more sensitive. We wrote a letter to Mr. Thomas telling him kindly, do not do anything which can disturb the peace and order of the area."
Police say Thomas will be allowed to continue his rescue missions. But Kalsekar made it clear his group will be keeping a close eye on Thomas' work with young prostitutes.
Thomas says his fight is not with the Hindu politicians. "It's not a fight between religions," he said, "it's a fight between the power of darkness, against Satan. And so that's where we have got to be a light in darkness."
And thanks to that light, Samata now looks forward to a bright future. Her heart is also full of thanks to the One who rescued her from darkness.
Samata sings, "Thank you, thank you Jesus, thank you, thank you Jesus, thank you, thank you Jesus, from my heart."