Review: Child prostitution and the role of the 'Chosen Few'

Rating: *** (3/5)
Starring: Vikram Kochhar, Faezeh Jalali, Namash Bhardwaj, Atroliya Uday

Director: Rohit Mittal

Available on TVF: https://tvfplay.com/

Release date: April 21, 2020

If you have just 20 minutes to spare during this lockdown, use it responsibly and get a peek into the dark world of underground prostitution of underage children. 'Chosen Few' on TVF will make your time worth the while. Based on a true story of a child sex worker Sani, this short film exposes the dark underbelly of child trafficking and gives you an insight into how a few conscious individuals risk their lives to create a better future for jeopardised minors who could otherwise have a chance at a normal childhood and a safe existence.

Special police officer Abhay Joshi, unearths the criminal world of child trafficking to save innocent lives. But the very lives he and his team want to save are at risk even through the operation. What is the modus operandi of the abductors and those trafficking the children? How do they convince and exploit minor impressionable girls such that they could leave them scarred forever? Will the special investigation team succeed? Does the mission come to its fruition? Or are more girls going to be forever lost to the vicious world of sex trade? The director manages to pack a punch and creates a touching story in a short duration. Your heart will go out to the minor girls and even others involved in the rescue operation.

Inspired by a rescue operation conducted by International Justice Mission, the ‘Chosen Few’ intends to shed light on the significance of a robust criminal justice system in freeing children caught in commercial sexual exploitation. The film explores the critical role of persons from the system who aid in the rescue, restoration and rehabilitation of survivors of sex trafficking.

The National Crime Records Bureau reveals that hundreds of children go missing every day in the country. While some of them return safely, some meet with tragic ends. There is also a high probability that they might have become a victim of trafficking for prostitution. It has often been reported that parents or relatives also sell off their girl child for money, which is a heinous and punishable crime. Trafficked minor girl children are used for prostitution, forced into marriage, are illegally adopted, used as cheap or unpaid labour, or even used for organ harvesting. In India, government figures state that every eight minutes a child goes missing and 40% of them are never found. Of the three million people engaged in sex work in India, more than 40% of them are below the age of 18, some even as young as five. Many trafficked children remain unreported and untraced and there is also a disadvantage in identifying these cases due to missing data. Without proper data to capture the real scale of child trafficking in India, the efforts to limit this rising crime remains a challenge. But when NGOs' provide support and scientific data, it aids authorities and designated departments to accelerate their efforts. One such organisation is the International Justice Mission (IJM) which seeks to protect vulnerable people from violence and oppression irrespective of their gender, community, caste, race, and ethnicity. IJM India works with the State and Central governments on two forms of human trafficking—bonded labour and sex trafficking of minors.