Prostitution in India: A view

Prostitution, perhaps, is the oldest profession lasts till date. This profession has many untold ugly scenes under it. The profession is sought on two bases 1 – Need based and 2 – Greed based. As the nature’s law states, the less mighty or poor choose this profession on first category and the mighty or rich choose the profession (or as hobby) on second category. This can be classified as female prostitution, child prostitution, male prostitution etc.,

Recently a group of government employees hosted a sleaze party involving sex workers in a separate bungalow. They were arrested and a popular news paper defended them saying it was a private party and on no law they can be arrested. From the legal angle, they are right and from moral angle – lets see. A view from moral angle….

In India consensual sex is something that is allowed. This means that it is not necessary for a guy and a girl over 18 years of age to be married to have sex. Now if this is moral why isn’t prostitution? In the former case we have two individuals having sex in order to satisfy sexual greed and in the latter case one is indulging for bodily greed, the other for money. In face if we look at the entire picture from a real “moral” point of view, prostitution is more “moral” than so called normal consensual sex. Prostitution is the way through which many families get their bread. It does have a survival aspect to it while consensual sex before marriage just has greed attached to it.

Then if an individual wants to take the services of a prostitute isn’t it the same as an individual spending a night with his girlfriend. Where is the difference? In both cases we have individuals satisfy their sexual needs. So why is it that law looks at one thing in a very normal manner while the other thing as illegal?

At this point I am not trying to become a moral police. I have just one question to ask the government. If on moral grounds we can have consensual pre married sex as legal, then why not prostitution? Consensual sex with a partner other than your wife is also illegal which is understandable because that could lead to inter family issues. But is pre married sex any better? Is it morally better than prostitution?

A Legal angle

Prostitution (engaging in a sexual activity in exchange of monetary gain) is a contentious issue all around the world. In India it is estimated that there are around two million female sex workers. According to a Human Rights Watch report, prostitution per se is not illegal. Indian anti-trafficking laws are designed to combat commercialized vice. A sex worker can be punished for soliciting or seducing in public while clients can be punished for sexual activity close to a public place.

Brothels are illegal but in practice they are restricted in location to certain areas of any given town. Thus, although the profession does not have official sanction, little effort is made to stamp it out or to take action to impede it. Sonagachi in Kolkata, Kamathipura in Mumbai,G.B. Road in New Delhi, Reshampura in Gwalior, Budhwar Peth in Pune Dalmandi in Varanasi, Naqqasa Bazaar in Saharanpur host thousands of sex workers in India.

As a result of India signing the United Nations' declaration in 1950 in New York on the suppression of trafficking, the act was introduced known as All India Suppression of Immoral Traffic Act (SITA). This was amended in 1986 to the current law known as The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act or PITA. The laws were intended as a means of limiting and eventually abolishing prostitution in India by gradually criminalizing various aspects of sex work. Some main points are:

Sex Workers: A prostitute who seduces or solicits shall be prosecuted. Similarly, call girls can not publish contact numbers to the public. (Imprisonment up to 6 months with fine)

Clients: A client is guilty of consorting with prostitutes and can be charged if he engages in sex acts with a sex worker within 200 yards of a public place or "notified area". (Imprisonment up to 3 months). The client may also be punished if the sex worker is below 18 years of age. (7-10 years of imprisonment, either with child or minor)

Pimps and Babus: Babus or pimps or live-in lovers who live off a prostitute's earnings are guilty of a crime. Any adult male living with a prostitute is assumed to be guilty unless he can prove otherwise. (Up to 2 years of imprisonment with fine, point 4)

Brothel: Landlords and brothel-keepers can be prosecuted, maintaining a brothel is illegal. (1~3 year imprisonment with fine). Detaining someone at a brothel for the purpose of sexual exploitation can be prosecuted. (Imprisonment more than 7 years)

Procuring and trafficking: A person procures anybody or attempts to procure is liable to be punished. Also a person, who moves a person from one place to another, human trafficking, can be prosecuted with the same. (3-7 years imprisonment with fine)

Rescued Women: The government is legally obligated to provide rescue and rehabilitation in a "protective home" for any sex worker requesting assistance.

Public place in context of this law includes public religious worship, educational institution, hostel, hospital etc. And a "notified area" is a place that is declared to be "prostitution-free" by the state government under the PITA. Brothel in context of this law says a place which has two or more sex workers. Prostitution itself is not an offense under this law, but soliciting, brothels and pimps are illegal.

Causes: The research indicates that the majority of sex workers in India work as prostitutes due to lacking resources to support themselves or their children. Most do not choose this profession out of preference, but out of necessity, often after the breakup of a marriage or after being disowned and thrown out of their homes by their families. The children of sex workers are much more likely to get involved in this kind of work as well. 76% of the agents were female and only 24% were males. Over 80% of the agents bring young women into the profession were known people and not traffickers: neighbors, relatives, etc.

Also prevalent in Indian prostitution is the Chukri System, whereby a female is coerced into prostitution to pay off debts, as a form of bonded labor. In this system, the prostitute generally works without pay for one year or longer in order to repay a supposed debt to the brothel owner for food, clothes, make-up and living expenses. Some women and even girls are by tradition born into prostitution to support the family. The Bachara, for example, follow this tradition with eldest daughters often expected to be prostitutes.

At the other end of the spectrum operate high class escort girls recruited from women's colleges and the vast cadres of India's fashion and film industries. They can command large sums of money. These services usually operate by way of introduction. However a recent trend has seen the emergence of several snazzy websites, openly advertising their services.

Male sex workers: Male prostitution is increasingly visible in India. Gigolo service in India is growing. In Delhi there are as many as twenty "agencies" offering "handsome masseurs" in the classifieds of the newspapers (Hindustan times). They offer both in and out services, although the facilities are usually very basic. Local middle class Indians are also now using these services. Fees are discussed over the phone, typically 1000 - 3000 Rs. Large percentage of male sex workers are eunuchs.

Eunuchs also indulge in prostitution as they are deprived of any other means of surviving. They are often faced with violence from the police, clients, and are often subjected to extortion from the police in order to carry on with their work.

Most know of sexually transmitted diseases through experience, but there are few preventative measures, such as condoms, that are made available to them and due to their legal status, no regimen of testing for AIDS or other diseases are available.

Surprising fact is that our society, despite being highly conservative, has allowed this industry to flourish and it was never hit by recession. The up-bringing at homes, explaining girls that sex is not a taboo but an art, sex-education are some of the measures one can take to tackle this. We cannot eradicate this by law but people are to be impressed upon the good and bad of this.

To sum up, using the moral veil to illegalize prostitution is incorrect because we as a society have legalized consensual sex which is morally worse than prostitution. Then as mentioned there are so many issues with this trade that are atrocious to both clients and sex workers. By legalizing this trade the government can look into and control the entire system in an organized manner through which many of the above issues could be taken care of.