Prostitution in Kuki society

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Prostitution is practised by some people in the Kuki society. Kuki tribes (Burmese: ချင်းလူမျိုး; MLCTS: hkyang lu. myui:, pronounced [tɕɪ́ɰ̃ lù mjó]) live mainly concentrated in Myanmar's Chin State, Bangladesh's Chittagong Hill Tracts and Northeast India, mainly in Manipur and Mizoram.

According to writer Tingneichong G. Kipgen, many families of Kuki people (Burmese: ချင်းလူမျိုး; MLCTS: hkyang lu. myui:) are run mainly by women as the bread earner, starting from educated Kuki women as Manipur Government job employees, to many others.^[1]

According to writer Tingneichong G. Kipgen, during the early 1990s, due to the conflict between the Kuki groups and the NSCN-IM, the economy of the former was drastically affected, as many Kuki women lost husbands and many Kuki children lost fathers and many lost homes. As many Kuki families became landless and afterwards "a mere wage earner or hire labourers", many Kuki women started prostitution as profession. Simultaneously, many Kuki youths got addicted to drugs due to the tension caused by ethnic conflict and the resulting economic instability. Though there are some Kuki families who are in the social creamy layer, most of the Kukis are living in miserable lives.^[1]

According to Pu David Haokip, the General Secretary of the United Kuki Liberation Front, there is a growing tradition of prostitution among the Kukis which is a consequence of the Naga-Kuki ethnic clash. Widowed Kuki women usually take up such profession to feed their children and themselves.^[2]

Many Kuki women especially from Churachandpur became prostitutes after the occurrence of the Kuki-Paite ethnic clash. One notable example is that of Rosy Haokip.^[a] Rosy Haokip is a victim of the Kuki-Paite ethnic clash of 1997. To earn a bread for herself and her survived daughter, she became a prostitute, in the streets, two years after the death of her husband and her son in the ethnic violence. She came to media coverage when an organization named "All Manipur Students' Union" (AMSU) caught up 10 prostitutes, including her, from a hotel. She and the other women were brought to a health clinic at Khoyathong. She and the other women were requested by counsellors to attend the clinic at a regular basis. Eventually, the owner, manager and three clients associated with the very hotel were arrested by the police.^[3]

In September 2010, policemen of Diphu rescued two Kuki girls named Kikim Lenthang and Thimnu Hengna from forced prostitution in Siliguri. Upon investigation, it was found that the girls were brought to a brothel in Siliguri by a person named Gayatri Pradhan, who deceived them for jobs.^[4] Later, the girls were returned to their families. It was also found out that the girls actually came as 4 but they were separated into 2 groups having 2 girls each, and other two girls who were untraceable till that time.^[4]

According to Kuki writer Tingneichong G. Kipgen, to curb the spreading of HIV AIDS^[b] as well as to be able to earn money by themselves^[c], many Self-Help Groups and N.G.Os organised social awareness programs for Kuki women, to bring change in their lives.^[1]

Prostitution of Kuki women are notably portrayed in the cinema of Manipur. In a Manipuri feature film titled "Mami" (transl. The Image), prostitution of Kuki women in ‘Khamtang’ (Kuki women's traditional clothes) was shown. The film shows the real life incidents of many unfortunate Kuki women, who became victims of the ethnic clash between the Kukis and the Nagas (1992-97).^[5][6]

1. "Moreh turning into sex workers' paradise : 15th dec09 ~ E-Pao! Headlines". Retrieved 2023-09-22.
2. "Manipur: Assam Rifles jawans accused of sexually assaulting woman". 21 November 2019.