
Slavery - A 21st Century Evil - Bridal Slaves
India's rapid economic growth sits alongside an estimated tens of millions of people living in modern slavery, and this Al Jazeera report focuses on one form of it: bridal slavery. Women and young girls are sold to men for as little as $120, then put to work in the fields from dawn to dusk while also facing sexual abuse from multiple men in the household. Survivor Jamila describes being kidnapped, drugged, and sold into a marriage that became years of forced labor and violence. The film traces the roots of the trade to gender-selective abortion and infanticide, which have left many regions short of marriageable women, and to dowry costs high enough to push poor families toward buying brides instead. Shafiq Khan, who runs a grassroots organization fighting bride trafficking, describes the rescue work and the scale of what his group is up against. The film stays close to individual testimony rather than statistics, building its case through the women who lived it.