Prostitution: A burning issue in India today

Most enter involuntarily. India, along with Thailand and the Philippines, has 1.3 million
childrens in its sex-trade centers. The childrens come from relatively poorer areas and are
trafficked to relatively richer ones. India and Pakistan are the main destinations for children
under 16, who are trafficked to south Asia. What is causing alarm both in governmental and
Non Governmental Organisations circles is the escalation in trafficking of young girls, in the
last decade. NGOs like STOP and MAITI in Nepal, report that most trafficking in India (both
trans-border and in-country) is for prostitution. And 60 per cent of those trafficked into
prostitution are adolescent girls in the age group of 12 to 16 years. These figures are
corroborated by a study done by the Department of Women and Children in 13 sensitive
districts of Uttar Pradesh. It revealed that all sex workers who formed a part of this survey
had entered the profession as young girls. Many transsexuals, called hijiras, are sex workers.
The families of hijiras reject them. They face opposition from the public, and with the denial of
employment, they take to begging and then enter the sex market.

Prostitution has always been a major issue in India. Bombay alone is home to one lakh
prostitution, the largest sex industry centre in Asia. Often women are forced into this
profession due to poverty, human trafficking, illiteracy, desertion, etc.

Legal status

The primary law dealing with the status of sex workers is the 1956 law referred to as The
Immoral Traffic (Suppression) Act (SITA). According to this law, prostitutes can practice
their trade privately but cannot legally solicit customers in public. Organized prostitution
(brothels, prostitution rings, pimping, etc.) is illegal. As long as it is done individually
and voluntarily, a woman (male prostitution is not recognized in the Indian constitution)
can use her body's attributes in exchange for material benefit. In particular, the law
forbids a sex worker to carry on her profession within 200 yards of a public place. Unlike
as is the case with other professions, sex workers are not protected under normal labour
laws, but they possess the right to rescue and rehabilitation if they desire and possess all
the rights of other citizens.

In practice SITA is not commonly used. The Indian Penal Code (IPC) which predates the
SITA is often used to charge sex workers with vague crimes such as "public indecency"
or being a "public nuisance" without explicitly defining what these consist of. Recently
the old law has been amended as The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act or PITA.
Attempts to amend this to criminalize clients [14] have been opposed by the Health
Ministry,[15] and has encountered considerable opposition.[16] In an interesting and positive
development in the improvement of the lives of female sex workers in Calcutta, a state-
owned insurance company has provided life insurance to 250 individuals[17]

Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act

The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act or PITA is a 1986 amendment of legislation passed
in 1956 as a result of the signing by India of the United Nations' declaration in 1950 in
New York on the suppression of trafficking.[18] The act, then called the All India
Suppression of Immoral Traffic Act (SITA), was amended to the current law. The laws
were intended as a means of limiting and eventually abolishing prostitution in India by
gradually criminalizing various aspects of sex work. The main points of the PITA are as
follows:[19]

2(f) “prostitution“ means the sexual exploitation or abuse of persons for commercial purposes or for
consideration in money or in any other kind, and the expression “prostitute” shall be construed accordingly;

• Sex Workers: A prostitute who seduces or solicits shall be prosecuted. Similarly,

call girls can not publish phone numbers to the public. (imprisonment up to 6
months with fine, point 8)
Sex worker also punished for prostitution near any public place or notified area.
(Imprisonment of up to 3 months with fine, point 7)

• 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 of up to 3 months, point 7) The client may also be
punished if the sex worker is below 18 years of age. (From 7 to 10 years of
imprisonment, whether with a child or a minor, point 7)

• 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. (Imprisonment of up to 2 years with
fine, point 4)

• Brothel: Landlords and brothel-keepers can be prosecuted, maintaining a brothel

is illegal. (From 1 to 3 years imprisonment with fine for first offence, point 3)
Detaining someone at a brothel for the purpose of sexual exploitation can lead to
prosecution. (Imprisonment of more than 7 years, point 6)

2 (a) “brothel“ includes any house, room, conveyance or place, or any portion of any house, room,
conveyance or place, which is used for purposes of sexual exploitation or abuse for the gain of
anotherperson or for the mutual gain of two or more prostitutes;

• Procuring and trafficking: A person procures or attempts to procure anybody is

liable to be punished. Also a person who moves a person from one place to
 another, (human trafficking), can be prosecuted similarly. (From 3 to 7 years
imprisonment with fine, point 5)

• Rescued Women: The government is legally obligated to provide rescue and

rehabilitation in a "protective home" for any sex worker requesting assistance.
(Point 21)

Public place in context of this law includes places of public religious worship,
educational institutions, hostels, hospitals etc. A "notified area" is a place which is
declared to be "prostitution-free" by the state government under the PITA. Brothel in
context of this law, is a place which has two or more sex workers (2a). Prostitution itself
is not an offence under this law, but soliciting, brothels and pimps are illegal.

Male sex workers

Male prostitution is increasingly visible in India. Gigolo service in India is growing. But
there are cases of harassment of client women by gigolos.[25] 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. Most western clients are visited at their hotels. Local middle-class Indians are
also now using these services. Fees are discussed over the phone, typically 1000-3000 Rs.
[citation needed]
Safe sex and condom use is generally well understood. The workers typically
do not speak English well. They are also found in Delhi's emerging gay night life scene,
with several "one nighters" at various middle-class night clubs in the city.

In India, male homosexual acts are now legal but male prostitution is all but invisible and
not much is currently known about the status of male sex workers. Due to the social
stigma attached to homosexuality in India and the lack of legal protection, they tend to
face higher risks than females. 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. A large percentage of male sex workers are eunuchs or hijrahs. Most know of
sexually transmitted diseases through experience, but there are few preventative
measures, such as condoms, that are made available to them. Due to their legal status, no
regimen of testing for HIV/AIDS or other diseases are made available.

2008 Human Rights Reports: India

While the act of prostitution is not illegal, most activities such as the selling, procuring, and
exploiting of any person for commercial sex as well as profiting from the prostitution of another
individual are illegal. Unlike in previous years, Section 8 of the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act
(ITPA), which criminalizes the act of solicitation for prostitution, was infrequently used to arrest
and punish women and girls who were victims of trafficking. The country is a significant source,
transit point, and destination for trafficked women.
In October the Jammu and Kashmir High Court criticized the CBI's "lax and deficient" handling of
the 2006 arrest of the former state minister for tourism in Jammu and Kashmir Pirzada
Mohammed Sayeed and his wife for allegedly trafficking and blackmailing approximately 40 local
girls into prostitution. On May 27, the Jammu and Kashmir state government asked the High
Court bench to reconsider the case. The CBI and the High Court Bar Association disagreed, and
the case was still pending at year's end

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.

ACCORDING TO Human Rights Watch, there are approximately 15 million prostitutes in India.
There are more than 100,000 women prostitution in Bombay, Asia’s largest sex industry
center. Girl prostitutes in India, Pakistan and the Middle East are tortured, held in virtual
imprisonment, sexually abused, and raped. Girl prostitutes are primarily located in low-middle
income areas and business districts and are known by officials. Brothel keepers regularly
recruit young girls. Girl prostitutes are grouped as common prostitutes, singers and dancers,
call girls, religious prostitutes or devdasi, and caged brothel prostitutes. 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.

An oft-repeated cause of prostitution is poverty. But poverty is not the only reason. The
helplessness of women forces them to sell their bodies. Many girls from villages are trapped
for the trade in the pretext of love and elope from home, only to find themselves sold in the
city to pimps, who take money from the women as commission. The other causes of
prostitution include 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.

Globalisation, professionalisation of trafficking syndicates, feminisation of poverty and rise in

sex tourism - all have contributed to an increase in trafficking. This problem is further
compounded because of two factors: linkages of trafficking with the spread of HIV/AIDS and
the clandestine nature of the activity. Studies now show that while women of all ages are
more vulnerable to the infection than men, young girls are even more at risk because their
genital tracts are immature. In addition, they have absolutely no control over sexual relations
and sexual health. So a physical vulnerability is compounded by gender vulnerability. The
study done in 13 districts of Uttar Pradesh showed that in a sample of 1,341 sex workers,
brothel-based prostitution was 793 and family-based prostitution came close at 548. Since
prostitution is not legal, the police can arrest sex workers at any time.

The police, whose main function is to protect and serve, turn out to be robbers, stealing the
little money that these workers "earn." Interventions are increasingly based on issues like
combating stigma related to HIV/AIDS, developing empowering strategies for victims and
involving communities in the rehabilitation of rescued women and girls. But there is a lot that
still needs to be done. Involvement of communities is of the greatest significance here since, it
has been seen that their families and communities do not accept rescued women and girls.
The situation becomes worse, if someone is tested positive for HIV, then she is immediately
labeled a prostitute - a perception that creates a complex situation in the rehabilitation
programmes. Even if trafficked returnees can avoid such treatment, they have few options for
survival. What is needed is a multi-pronged strategy, which can help in curbing trafficking and
empowering communities and which also has scope for rescue and rehabilitation processes.
The task is not just daunting; given the political priorities of most governments, it has not
been given the importance it deserves