Should prostitution be legalized in India? An Open House Discussion

[Global Cocnern]

A prostitute is a person, "who allows her body to be used for lewd
purposes in return for payment". Prostitution is the sale of sexual
services, such as oral sex or sexual intercourse, for money.
Prostitution the word itself speaks about the plight of a women .It is
not a problem which exists in India but exists throughout the world.
Prostitution was a part of daily life in ancient Greece .In the more
important cities, and particularly the many ports, it employed a
significant proportion of the population and represented one of the
top levels of economic activity. In the ancient city of Heliopolis in
Syria, there was a law that stated that every maiden should prostitute
herself to strangers at the temple of Astarte.

In Armenia the noblest families dedicated their daughters to the
service of the goddess Anaitis in her temple at Acilisena.In ancient
India prostitutes have been referred as to devdasis. Originally,
devadasi were celibate dancing girls used in temple ceremonies and
they entertained members of the ruling class. But sometime around the
6th Century, the practice of "dedicating" girls to Hindu gods became
prevalent in a practice that developed into ritualized prostitution.
Devadasi literally means God’s (Dev) female servant (Dasi), where
according to the ancient Indian practice, young pre-pubertal girls are
‘married off’, ‘given away’ in matrimony to God or Local religious
deity of the temple. The marriage usually occurs before the girl
reaches puberty and requires the girl to become a prostitute for upper-
caste community members. Such girls are known as jogini. They are
forbidden to enter into a real marriage. The system of devadasi
started only after the fall of Buddhism and records about them start
appearing around 1000 A.D. [Bharatiya Sanskruti Kosh, IV, 448]. It is
viewed that the Devadasi`s are the Buddhist nuns who were degraded to
the level of prostitutes after their temples were taken over by
Brahmins during the times of their resurgence after the fall of
Buddhism. According to the 1934 Devadasi Security Act, this practice
is banned in India.

This ban was reinforced again in 1980s but the law is broken every
day. Poverty and ‘Untouchablity’ contribute to the persistence of this
terrible practice. Reference to dancing girls in temples is found in
Kalidasa's "Meghadhoot". The popularity of devadasis seems to have
reached its pinnacle around 10th and 11th century CE. The rise and
fall in the status of devadasis can be seen to be running parallel to
the rise and fall of Hindu temples. The devdasi system was mostly
prevalent in southern India and it reached its height during the Chola
Empire. Though government has taken adequate steps in order to combat
with the problem of devdasi, even the devdasi prohibition act was not
fully successful in solving the problem in India. Most important
reason still being poverty, ignorance and hunger which are forcing
them to this kind of exploitation. Now this was the old story or the
beginning of prostitution apart from these there is also references of
prostitution in Kama sutra written by Vatsyayana sometime between the
second and fourth centuries A.C.E.

India is home today to Asia's largest red-light district--Mumbai's
infamous Kamathipura, which originated as a massive brothel for
British occupiers and shifted to a local clientele following Indian
independence. The Mughal Empire (1526 -1857) also witnessed
prostitution the word “tawaif” and mujra became common during this
era. During the Mughal era in the subcontinent (1526 to 1857)
prostitution had a strong nexus with performing arts. Mughals
patronized prostitution which raised the status of dancers and singers
to higher levels of prostitution. King Jahangir’s harem had 6,000
mistresses which denoted authority, wealth and power. Even during the
British era prostitution flourished the famous kamathipura a red light
area in Bombay was built during this era for the refreshment of
British troops and which was later taken over by Indian sex workers.

The prostitution continued from ancient and medieval india and has
taken a more gigantic outlook in modern india, the devdasi system
still continues ,according to a report of National Human Rights
Commission of the Government of India,” after initiation as devadasis,
women migrate either to nearby towns or other far-off cities to
practise prostitution”. The practice of dedicating devadasis was
declared illegal by the Government of Karnataka in 1982 and the
Government of Andhra Pradesh in 1988. However the practice is still
prevalent in around 10 districts of north Karnataka and 14 districts
in Andhra Pradesh. Districts bordering Maharashtra and Karnataka,
known as the "devadasi belt," have trafficking structures operating at
various levels. The women here are in prostitution either because
their husbands deserted them, or they are trafficked through coercion
and deception. Many are devadasi dedicated into prostitution for the
goddess Yellamma.

Causes of prostitution:
· Ill treatment by parents.
· Bad company.
· Family prostitutes.
· Social customs.
· inability to arrange marriage,
· Lack of sex education, media.
· Prior incest and rape.
· Early marriage and desertion.
· Lack of recreational facilities, ignorance, and acceptance of
prostitution.
· Economic causes include poverty and economic distress.
· Psychological causes include desire for physical pleasure, greed,
and dejection.

Notorious red light districts of India include GB Road in Delhi,
Sonagachi in Kolkata, Kamathipura in Mumbai, Budhwar Peth in Pune and
Reshampura in Gwalior. There are around 2.8 million prostitutes in the
country and their number is increasing, as informed by Lok Sabha. Most
of the girls are brought from Nepal and Bangladesh. ''Young girls are
trafficked from Nepal to brothels in Mumbai and Kolkata at an average
age of twelve. They are trapped into the vicious cycle of
prostitution, debt and slavery. By the time they are in their mid-
twenties, they are at the dead end. In modern India different kinds of
prostitution is prevailing apart from prostitutes in brothel there
are:
· Street prostitutes
· Bar dancers
· Call girls
· Religious prostitutes
· Escort girls
· Road side brothel
· Child prostitutes
· Fricatrice prostitutes
· Gimmick prostitutes
· Beat prostitutes
Every hour, four women and girls in India enter prostitution, three of
them against their will.

Prostitution is a problem in itself and child prostitution is making
it more complex. Quoting a study on 'Girls/Women in prostitution in
India', Minister for Women and Child Development Renuka Chowdhury said
that out of the total number of prostitutes in the country, 35.47 per
cent entered the trade before the age of 18 years. Though in cases
like Gaurav jain vs. Union of India [1]direction where given for the
upliftment of prostitutes and establishment of the juvenile home for
the children’s of prostitutes.

Laws related to prostitution in India:
Suppression of Immoral Traffic in Women and Girl Act -1956
Prevention of Immoral Traffic Act-1956
Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act-1956

The Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act, 1956 ("ITPA"), the main
statute dealing with sex work in India, does not criminalise
prostitution or prostitutes per se, but mostly punishes acts by third
parties facilitating prostitution like brothel keeping, living off
earnings and procuring, even where sex work is not coerced.

Section3. Punishment for keeping a brothel or allowing premises to be
used as a brothel.
(1) Any person who keeps or manages, or acts or assists in the keeping
or management of, a brothel, shall be punishable on first conviction
with rigorous imprisonment for a term of not less than one year and
not more than three years and also with fine which may extend to two
thousand rupees and in the event of a second or subsequent to
conviction with rigorous imprisonment for a term of not less than two
years and not more than five years and also with fine which may extend
to two thousand rupees.

(2) A any person who, -

(a) Being the tenant, lessee, occupier or person in charge of any
premises, uses, or knowingly allows any other person to use, such
premises or any part thereof as a brothel, or

(b) Being the owner, lessor or landlord of any premises or the agent
of such owner, lessor or landlord, lets the same or any part thereof
with the knowledge that the same or any part thereof is intended to be
used as a brothel, or is willfully a party to the use of such premises
or any part thereof as a brothel, shall be punishable on first
conviction with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years
and with fine which fine which may extend to two thousand rupees and
in the event of a second or subsequent conviction, with rigorous
imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years and also with
fine.

(2-A) For the purposes of sub-section (2), it shall be presumed, until
the contrary is proved, that any person referred to in clause (a) or
clause (b) of that subsection, is knowingly allowing the premises or
any part thereof to be used as a brothel or, as the case may be, has
knowledge that the premises or any part thereof are being used as a
brothel, if, -

(a) A report is published in a newspaper having circulation in the
area in which such person resides to the effect that the premises or
any part thereof have been found to be used for prostitution as a
result of a search made under this Act; or

(b) A copy of the list of all things found during the search referred
to in clause (a) is given to such person.

Section5. Procuring, inducing or taking person for the sake of
prostitution.

(1) Any person who-

(a) Procures or attempts to procure a person whether with or without
his/her consent, for the purpose of prostitution; or

(b) Induces a person to go from any place, with the intent that he/she
may for the purpose of prostitution become the inmate of, or frequent,
a brothel; or

(c) Takes or attempts to take a person or causes a person to be taken,
from one place to another with a view to his/her carrying on, or being
brought up to carry on prostitution; or

(d) Causes or induces a person to carry on prostitution; shall be
punishable on conviction with rigorous imprisonment for a term of not
less than three years and not more than seven years and also with fine
which may extend to two thousand rupees, and if any offence under this
sub-section is committed against the will of any person, the
punishment of imprisonment for a term of seven years shall extend to
imprisonment for a term of fourteen years:

Provided that if the person in respect of whom an offence committed
under this sub-section, -
(i) Is a child, the punishment provided under this sub-section shall
extend to rigorous imprisonment for a term of not less than seven
years but may extend to life; and
(ii) Is a minor; the punishment provided under this sub-section shall
extend to rigorous imprisonment for a term of not less than seven
years and not more than fourteen years.

So it can be seen that both the sections namely section 3 and section
5 punishes only the acts of the 3rd party and same does the other
sections in the Act and so new legislation shall be passed as to
punish the client who are visiting the prostitutes.

The prostitution leads to many health problems for the prostitutes
like:
· Cervical cancer
· Traumatic brain injury
· HIV
· STD
· Psychological disorders

In a country like India where most of the people indulge themselves in
unprotected sex with prostitutes it is very difficult to eradicate the
problem of aids. Historically, the AIDS epidemic in India was first
identified amongst sex workers and their clients, before other
sections of society became affected. The sex workers are themselves
taking steps to combat with aids in some brothels in India for example
sonagachi a brothel in Kolkata; where the sex workers are insisting
their clients for use of condoms in order to avoid aids. But in all
the other brothels in India social workers and NGO`S are trying to
acquaint the sex workers about the ill effects of AIDS and are
insisting them for using condoms

CASE STUDY
Meena was married off at 12. Soon after she was taken to Delhi by her
husband, where she found out that he was a pimp. In the last three
years, she has serviced up to six clients a night. The major part of
her earnings goes to pay rent on the little room; the rest goes to her
husband. Maya, 10, was taken to Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh by her aunt
who was paid Rs 3 000. When she refused to have sex with a client, she
was locked in a room for two days, scared with snakes and beaten
unconscious. When she came around she was raped by the client. Four
years on, Maya lives in the red-light area of Mumbai. Her two year old
spends the night in a crèche run by a social service organization.
When he was only a few Months old, she used to drug him and put him
under her working cot.

Steps that should be taken in order to fight with prostitution:
# Formal education should be made available to those victims who are
still within the school going age, while non-formal education should
be made accessible to adults
# The Central and State Governments in partnership with non-
governmental organizations should provide gender sensitive market
driven vocational training to all those rescued victims who are not
interested in education
# Rehabilitation and reintegration of rescued victims being a long-
term Recruitment of adequate number of trained counsellors and social
workers in institutions/homes run by the government independently or
in collaboration with non-governmental organizations
# Awareness generation and legal literacy on economic rights,
particularly for women and adolescent girls should be taken up.
# Adequate publicity, through print and electronic media including
child lines and women help lines about the problem of those who have
been forced into prostitution.
# Culturally sanctioned practices like the system of devadasis,
jogins, bhavins, etc. which provides a pretext for prostitution should
be addressed suitably.

Shall India legalize prostitution?
Some people opine that prostitution shall be made legal in India and
accept them as a part of society because the problem of prostitution
is inevitable. The benefit of legalizing prostitution in India will be
that atleast we will have a track record of Sexworkers as for example
when dance bar in Bombay were closed most of the bar dancers migrated
to Gujarat and Karnataka and other neighbouring state and started
their business undercover. Legalising prostitution will see these
women, who live life on the edge everywhere, gaining access to medical
facilities, which can control the spread of AIDS. There is a very
strong need to treat the sex industry as any other industry and
empower it with legal safeguards. The practical implications of the
profession being legal would bring nothing but benefits for sex
workers and society as a whole. Keeping prostitution illegal also
contributes to crime because many criminals view prostitutes and their
customers as attractive targets for robbery, fraud, rape, or other
criminal acts. The criminals realize that such people are unlikely to
report the crimes to police, because the victims would have to admit
they were involved in the illegal activity of prostitution when the
attacks took place, now if it is legal then they will easily go and
report this to police.Benifits of legalizing prostitution are:

Legalization of prostitution and the sex industry will stop sex
trafficking.
Legalization of prostitution will control the sex industry.
Legalization of prostitution will decrease clandestine, hidden,
illegal and street prostitution.
Legalization of prostitution will protect the women in prostitution as
they will have rights.
Women in systems of Prostitution want the sex industry legalized as
they are the one who suffers the most as they don’t have any rights.
Legalization of prostitution will promote women's health as they can
have easy access to medical facilities which they don’t have when it
is illegal.
Recognizing prostitution as an economic activity, thus enabling women
in India to obtain working permits as "sex workers".


What Should Be done????????????????????????? A Big Question Ahead

[Global Cocnern]

KAMATHIPURA, KNOWN as Falkland Road of Mumbai is Asia’s largest sex
industry centre where over 150,000 women are into prostitution. It is
believed to have been started by the British army with the abduction
of women from Germany at the time of the East India Company rule. Sex
workers in Mumbai face what sex workers around the world face -- many
of them are sold into prostitution as young girls. There is long list
of reasons behind the women getting into prostitution, which mainly
includes ill treatment at home, bad company, lured by middle workers,
prior incest and rape, desertion, trafficking, economic distress and
poverty. Of this poverty is oft repeated cause. I was in a red light
area of Mumbai for some assignment and looking at the condition there
I wondered-- Do they work here by choice?

A story appeared in Hindustan Times some months back where a girl from
Kolkata was ill treated at home and ran away. She got a work at
construction site. One of the co-workers told her that if she wants to
continue to work here she must sleep with the manager. The girl was
still in her teenage and didn’t understood what her friend meant. But
she went ahead and slept. For months she did the same to continue the
job and earn money. She then came to Mumbai and is here for the last
few years in the brothel. Prostitution is the world’s oldest
profession. But India being a conservative society has always
pretended that there is no prostitution here (not generalising but
many say so).

India is home to over six million prostitutes, of which over 25 per
cent are minors. In India organised prostitution is illegal. In India
the problem of HIV/AIDS is menacing and many non governmental
organisations (NGOs) and few government organisations are trying their
best to curb the spread of the virus. Prostitution has emerged as the
dangerous conduit for HIV virus. High HIV infection rates continue to
be detected in India. The government estimates that eight per cent of
sex workers nationally are infected with HIV, which is almost nine
times higher than the overall HIV prevalence rate for Indian adults.
What is more, studies of sex workers in individual areas have found
much higher HIV prevalence rates, such as 44 per cent in Mumbai, and
26 per cent in Mysore.

We have no legal monitoring system and thus we cannot pass any laws
saying sex workers should get themselves medically checked at regular
intervals unlike in few other countries where prostitution has been
legalised. The 40 lakh sex workers represent a threat that cannot even
be imagined because the danger is multiplied due to the mass ignorance
about the disease in both the trade and clientele. It is time sex
workers were viewed as partners in the fight against AIDS. If we trap
ourselves in outdated thinking, society will be the loser. So what is
the answer?

A hard and traumatic face of women involved in this trade is that they
are exploited, harassed and treated like dirt. Nobody is bothered
about the agony, horror and the torture, to which a sex worker is
exposed to. They have no dignity in the society and even the
government holds a medieval view on this issue. We are totally inhuman
in our attitude towards the girls, most of whom are forced into the
profession. The girls are trafficked from Bangladesh and Nepal. A sex
worker can not be on the street. If she does so, she is booked by the
police, harassed and even raped. In short life becomes hell. A sex
worker told, "We are not entitled to ration cards and precluded from
the democratic process of the country because we are not issued voter
identity cards. We are workers like others and toil for living. Why
this hypocrisy then?"

The planning commission sometime back recommended legalisation of
prostitution. There are some merits and demerits of legalising
prostitution. But then merits outnumber the demerits as I observed.
Stopping prostitution is impossible, while opening it up to regulation
improves the matters, even if it is morally unacceptable to many. Once
legalised, women in sex trade will not be harassed by the police, they
will work in certain zones and will be issued licences; their names
will be in the government records, they will have to undergo regular
health check ups and pay taxes. One thing is to be noted that in the
current scenario the police always books a sex worker but just
refrains from taking action against the agents, the pimps, the
managers. Pimping should be declared illegal in fact. Though there can
be rise in trafficking and bureaucracy but that can be regularised if
we show that ’will’. It is up to the law makers to tackle this issue.

A society has a responsibility to give options to these people. We
need to empower them. Leaving it as it exists is neither here nor
there-- as sitting on the fence isn’t the best approach. But the big
question is whether we are ready for such a giant leap? Has our
society attained the level of thinking, which will enable forward a
movement on such issue. Perhaps, you need to give an answer.

[Justin]

I think this is a matter that should be subject to popular vote on a
local level... judged on a town by town basis. That way, those who
favor one side of the issue over another, will retain the option to
move to a town or province that has voted along such lines, not unlike
how firearm regulation is undertaken in the United States. We can
then proceed experimentally, bearing witness to the results of these
choices in how they impact upon each community respectively. But what
I would propose for consideration is not the establishment of
prostitution as a legal right, but as a privilege. If it should come
to be deemed a professional service for which one must qualify to be
able to provide, it would be subject to rigorous training and
regulation accordingly. Even so, as a matter of practicality, this
would then render illegal prostitution on par with giving legal advice
or practicing medicine without proper licensing.

But such implementations cannot be affected unless and until the
majority of people reach a maturity that enables them to address sex
maturely as a dignified means of self-perpetuation and self-
maintenance... not just as an embarrassing form of self-gratification
for so-called adults that is yet sanctioned by no more than childish
notions of power and romance. It is truly unfortunate that we even
need to try to govern behavior on a subject that is so personal... so
subject to diverse cultural and racial tendencies... a subject that is
far more rightly determined in the home. How odd that we should find
ourselves telling each other when to have sex, with whom and why, but,
partially evolved as we are, it seems that such externally enforced
moral fortitude is every bit as necessary as it ever was. And this,
only that we may make a halfhearted attempt at treating the symptom
and not the real illness in society: the sexual maladjustment that
usually originates in the home during childhood and is only further
exacerbated by unspiritual social conditions which will tend toward
one species of immorality or another, quite regardless of what is or
is not allowed by the laws of man.

Love,

j.

P.S. Religious sex rituals and temple harlotry is, in my personal
assessment, another subject. The basic standard for sex practices in
moral societies usually include the requirement of voluntarism and an
age/state of mind that is unquestionably sufficient for reasoning and
making such decisions on the part of both parties. Wherever and
whenever any one of these basic standards are not met in sex-related
activities, a crime is being committed... If not in the eyes of
unthinking men, then surely in the eyes of all-knowing God.