Mumbai:
Eleven children, who are looked after by the NGO Kranti are battling discrimination and eviction from the housing society they live in. Kranti works on rehabilitating children of sex workers but they have to leave their home of three years by June 10. Their hunt for another home has been disappointing as no one wants to live with them.
The children had been living in the housing society peacefully before as nobody knew their identity but last August, 19-year-old Shweta Katti, a commercial sex worker's daughter who was trained by Kranti, left for New York after she got admission in Bard College. Her accomplishment was applauded but it gave her and the identity of her friends away as their names appeared in newspapers and TV.
"There is a lot of discrimination in this building. Anybody can live here but not us, just because we come from a brothel. If they were in our situation what would they have done?" asks Shweta's sister Asmita.
Robin Chaurasia, the Founder of Kranti says, "Shweta was the first girl from a red light area to study abroad so she got a lot of coverage. In that time people from this building realized that the girls are from a red light area. We are trying to find a new place to rent."
The girls say lewd comments and discrimination is a part of their lives. But their courage comes from one belief, that their identity is something they cannot change, but dreams are what they can create.
According to Lawyer and Activist Shehzad Poonawala, this problem arises from lack of fair housing policy. He has been campaigning for a fair policy and says that a comprehensive legislation should be enforced that gives access housing in a fair manner with no discrimination.
Mumbai's housing societies are infamous for discriminating on the basis of religion, profession, marital status etc. But for this group of young dreamers and achievers, fighting this problem is the only way out and with ten days to find a new home, they are not giving up.
The children had been living in the housing society peacefully before as nobody knew their identity but last August, 19-year-old Shweta Katti, a commercial sex worker's daughter who was trained by Kranti, left for New York after she got admission in Bard College. Her accomplishment was applauded but it gave her and the identity of her friends away as their names appeared in newspapers and TV.
"There is a lot of discrimination in this building. Anybody can live here but not us, just because we come from a brothel. If they were in our situation what would they have done?" asks Shweta's sister Asmita.
Robin Chaurasia, the Founder of Kranti says, "Shweta was the first girl from a red light area to study abroad so she got a lot of coverage. In that time people from this building realized that the girls are from a red light area. We are trying to find a new place to rent."
The girls say lewd comments and discrimination is a part of their lives. But their courage comes from one belief, that their identity is something they cannot change, but dreams are what they can create.
According to Lawyer and Activist Shehzad Poonawala, this problem arises from lack of fair housing policy. He has been campaigning for a fair policy and says that a comprehensive legislation should be enforced that gives access housing in a fair manner with no discrimination.
Mumbai's housing societies are infamous for discriminating on the basis of religion, profession, marital status etc. But for this group of young dreamers and achievers, fighting this problem is the only way out and with ten days to find a new home, they are not giving up.
Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world
