Prostitution...A serious issue unattended!

-The word originates in Latin: Pro + Stature which literally means "to expose" and its a pan-universal issue.

-It has diverse considerations in different societies and nations. In some countries, it is legal, while in some, death penalty is given. In Sweden, Iceland paying for prostitution is illegal. In India, UK, Canada, USA prostitution is not a crime but associated activities such as pimping activities of brothels & soliciting in open is a crime. In several countries it is legal in a limited form.

-According to a survey by the Ministry of Women & Child Development, 2.8 million sex workers have been identified while unofficially it is 15 million.

-The troubling part: India has 35.47% of prostitutes belonging to the under 18 years age group. As per official estimates, Mumbai has the largest concentration.

-There are many variants of prostitution: common prostitues to singers and dancers, call girls and even the dev-dasi traditions being generated at certain places.



-Section 497 of IPC - Consensus sex is not a crime if the lady is 16 years old or more. For the married woman too, consensus sex is not a crime. However, concealment of information is a crime.

-The legal complexity of the provision was adopted under SITA Act-Suppression of Immoral Trafficking, 1956 but couldn't be effected. It was ammended again in the form of IT(P)A [Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act], 1986.
-The Law forbids sex workers to carry out their profession within 200 yards of public places. However this Act does not recognise male sex workers or gigolos, who sell sex services to women or husslers, also known as rent boys who sell sex as a part of MSM (men having sex with men). Both are illegal.

Causes that contribute to prostitution:

>Family prostitution
>Poverty
>Migration (of illegal nature esp., from Nepal and Bangladesh)
>History of rape, divorce, peer factors, bank company, poverty
>Technological factors - websites, chat sites etc.
>For the payment of rent/borrowing, the lady spends sometime with the person - Chukri System. (It is the oldest system in India).

Should it be legalised???

In favour:
>This group can then be better attended
>Better policies can be framed for them
>Better rehabilitation can be done

Against:
>It would then become an industry and pimps would become entrepreneurs
>Organised crime associated with it wouls also become difficult to handle
>Child-rights violation will become more rampant
>Efforts of controlling this problem would cease


Facts::

1. It is one of the gross violations of human rights and it has been considered as a modern day slavery.

2. Acc. to a UNICEF study, India has the largest number of child prostitutes while in terms of ratio, it is Cambodia.

3. In ILO Convention of 182, it is rated as the worst form of child labour.

4. As per WHO survey of India, more than 50% of sex workers of Mumbai and Kolkata are HIV+ve.

5. In July, 2005, the MHR Govt. passed a law, banning bar dancers but it MHR High Court maintained it as unconstitutional. The matter is still pending in the Supreme Court. Irrespective, the stoppage of bar dancing has added to the large number of prostitutes thus contributing to the problem.

6. In a PIL filed by "Bachpan Bachao Andolan" (an NGO), SC Justice A.P. Patnaik and Justice Davir Bhandari has called upon the Govt. to make strict provisions to deny bail to those people who are engaged on child prostitution. Retired CJI K.G. Balakrishnan is of the opinion that it should be legalised to have better monitoring and medical facilities provided.

{Note: Just because we are unable to stop it, it doesn't imply that we should legalise it!}