Should Prostitution be Legalized?

The word prostitution has been derived from the Latin word ‘prostituere’ means to ‘expose publically’. Prostitution is commonly known as “the oldest profession" which is unfortunately far from exaggeration. Prostitution in India is not something which is new to India or is borrowed from the western world. It is something which is present in our culture since the ages of Mahabharata and Ramayana. For a long time, the base for client-age of prostitution in India use to be truck drivers, migrant workers, but as a growing trend, it seems to bring in clients from every section of society. 

The Immoral Traffic (Suppression) Act was passed in 1956. It is also referred to as SITA. This law states that prostitutes are allowed to ply their trade in private but they cannot carry out their business in the open. Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act was passed in 1986 and is an amendment of the SITA. As per this law prostitutes will be arrested for soliciting their services or seducing others. The core of the problem lies not in the loopholes of the ITPA, but is its corruption-riddled implementation. The legislation meant to protect the exploitation of sex workers operates against them because the customer, without whom the act of prostitution cannot be committed, also goes scot-free. The uneven enforcement of the ITPA against prostitute women is attributed to various causes. 

As opined by Justice Ramaswamy in the case of Gaurav Jain v. Union of India and others that “women found in flesh trade should be viewed more as victims of socio-economic circumstances and not offender of the society, some police authorities have already set out the process of sensitization towards the sex workers and their treatment.”

I would now like to establish certain facts so that one can witness the magnitude of this problem, in India close to three million women work as prostitutes, of which 1.2 million are below 18. Prostitution in India is Rs.40000 crore annual business and thirty percent of the sex workers are children whose exploiters earn a whopping Rs.11000 crore. According to a survey, there are approximately 10 million sex workers in India out of which 100,000 are in Mumbai alone, Asia’s largest sex industry centre. 

If we look at the methods other countries to tackle this situation it has always been reformative and not retributive. 

In my opinion before looking at these individuals as prostitutes we should look at them as human who deserve basic human rights. In India, with such diverse societal ingredients, sex work has survived in parallel with the society. Provisions such as licensing, registration with local police and local municipal bodies will not be possible until the stigma attached with sex work is done away with. The best way to go ahead for India will be decriminalization of prostitutes and criminalization of brothel-owners along with penalizing demand in form of the consumer of sexual services. The sex worker needs to be rehabilitated with State protection and care and has to be relocated to another sector of the industry with proper training.