Shirdi is best known as a pilgrimage site for devotees of Sai Baba, it's lesser known as having a thriving sex industry. We have been working in the town within Ahmednagar District for many years, supporting the exploited women working there and raising awareness and helping them to access their human rights as members of our society. As part of this work, in March, our Snehjyot project organised a Mahila Melava program in Shirdi.
By gathering all the female sex workers together, we gave them an opportunity to share how they are frequently beaten by police officers, details of crimes against them and fraud perpetrated by consumers due to overcrowding in Shirdi with our team, health officials from Shirdi Puntamba Kopargaon and AIDS officers.