Morena, Aug 17 :     At eight, he rescued his cousin from a brothel. That was the beginning. Sixty years later, Ram Sanehi is a one-man army who has saved more than 1,000 sex workers. Sanehi runs an ashram, which exclusively educates children of Bedias - a nomadic clan of traditional sex workers from Morena, Bhind, Gwalior and other adjoining areas of Bundelkhand. The total population of Bedias in the region is around 3,500. Bedia women in Bundelkhand are the sole bread-earners of their family. Introduced to the trade by their parents, their first day in prostitution is celebrated. Men in this tribe do not work. At best, they pimp for the women. Born in Got, 40 km from here, Ram Sanehi was often witness to violent quarrels between his parents. His father was a Bedia but his mother belonged to a family of Chambal dacoits. 'My mother was not a prostitute since she was not a Bedia,'' Sanehi said. 'As a child and the eldest among three sons, I wondered why my mother looked down upon all other women in my family and the neighbourhood.'' Unable to continue school beyond the third standard, Sanehi was packed off with his aunt to set up a family business. His aunt hired a dingy room in Neel ki Gali, the largest red-light area of Meerut. Sanehi was shocked to discover that her daughter 'was one of the cheapest prostitutes available in the market'. 'She bargained for one or two rupees per customer and would hang out of the window calling out to prospective clients. Rarely, however, was she able to earn more than Rs 100 a day', Sanehi reminisces. Unable to stand the ill-treatment meted out to his cousin, Sanehi would often take food to her when she was hungry 'After two months, I helped my cousin escape. She asked me to get a rope so that she could slide down from the first-floor window.'' Having kissed his forehead, the girl escaped. Sanehi never saw her again. His aunt beat him black and blue and sent him back to his parents in Got. Then on, with each passing day the boy grew up realising the reason for his mother's contempt for his race. By 15, Sanehi had decided that unshackling his tribe from the curse of traditional prostitution would be his goal in life. He went back to Neel ki Gali, where he lived on sundry jobs - working as a bootpolish boy, a porter and a truck driver's helper in Meerut. He also turned a police informer, tipping them off on where and when to raid Neel ki Gali. Sanehi claims he helped the police end sex trade in Neel ki Gali in three years. Soon, social workers and associations joined him in his crusade. 'As a child I loved listening to my mother's narration of stories about Laxmibai and Durgavati. Maybe I wanted to see a Durga- vati in every woman,'' Sanehi said. By the end of the 1950s, Sanehi was a known name. In 1959, Sanehi returned to Morena and persuaded the Samajik Swastha Sangh to open a branch in Gwalior through which he launched reformist moves against the Bedia tradition. For the next three decades, his efforts to end the Bedia prostitution continued. Though the Suppression of Immoral Traffic Among Women Act (SITA) was passed in 1956 and came into force a year later, no notifica- tion was issued in Madhya Pradesh. Sanehi filed a public interest litigation to make the state government take notice of the Act. Through his efforts, Morena district in north Madhya Pradesh has been declared a sensitive area under PATA (successor of SITA) for prevention of prostitution among Bedias. Sanehi's efforts made the state government launch a 'Jawalika'' scheme in 1992, aimed at rehabilitating Bedia children. Taking a single-storied building, Sanehi started his Adbhudaya Ashram. He educates children, even providing training in tailoring, computers and handicrafts. He also trains girls in the the art of self-defence. At present, the ashram has 225 children. The government has promised Sanehi land and material help for his rehabilitation programme. District collector, Pramod Agarwal said: 'We have already supplied all necessary items for vocational programmes - stitching machines and computers. Land will also be given to the ashram very soon'. In 1971, Sanehi got the first Bedia marriage registered in court. He was ex-communicated for having gone against the tradition. He has since had more than 40 marriages registered. Fourteen of his girl students are leading happy family lives. One, however, was not so lucky. 'She was married off into a wrong family. They refused to accept her later and the girl committed suicide,'' Sanehi rues. Impediments have stared Sanehi in the eye several times. But the man refuses to break down, continuing his fight against flesh trade relentlessly.