INDIAN SOCIAL PROBLEMS Unit- III

PROSTITUTION IN INDIA

Introduction
According to Human Rights Watch, there are approximately 15 million prostitutes in India. There are more than 100,000 women in prostitution in Bombay, Asia's largest sex industry centre. Girls in prostitution 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 devadasi, and caged brothel prostitutes. Districts bordering Maharashtra and Karnataka, known as the "devadasi belt," have trafficking structures operating at various levels.

What is Prostitution?
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including johns. Prostitution is one of the branches of the sex industry. The legal status of prostitution varies from country to country, from being a punishable crime to a regulated profession. Prostitution is typically described as the particular behaviour of trading sexual relations for economic profit. Although usually traded for money, prostitution is also bartered for almost anything that has monetary value. Prostitution may be an illegal or legal profession, all depending on the culture and country.

Definition of Prostitution
1. Definition says that it is an exchange of money for sexual purpose that is offering sexual intercourse for pay or in other words it is an act of sexual intercourse in exchange for money.

2. Definition says that prostitution is offering or agreeing to engage in, or engaging in, a sex act with another in return for a fee. The selling of ones body for sexual purposes can be thus described as an apt definition of prostitution.

3. A person is guilty of prostitution when s/he engages or agrees or offers to engage in sexual conduct with another person for a fee. However, the papers accusing Corona of this crime stated that she engaged, agreed, and offered to engage in sexual conduct with another person for a fee.

In modern India different Types/kinds of prostitution

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
6.

Street prostitutes Bar dancers Call girls Religious prostitutes Escort girls Road side brothel Child prostitutes Fricatrice prostitutes Gimmick prostitutes Beat prostitutes

7. 8. 9. 10.

Types of Prostitution
Call Girls Call girls are commercial sex workers who are part-timers and are usually more educated, carry cell-phones, and are well groomed and cannot be compared to those living in brothels. They have more mobility, earn higher incomes and have some freedom in choosing their clients who are mostly from the middle and upper classes of society. Escort girls The costliest end of the supply chain operates with high-class escort girls recruited from women's colleges and from Indias burgeoning fashion and film industries. The boom in

Internet services has seen the emergence of several snazzy websites, openly advertising escort girl services. Devadasi system Devadasi tradition or sacred prostitution is a form of sex work that dates back several centuries with the ritual found in written records even in the 12th century. The tradition involves a religious rite, in which girls and women are dedicated, through marriage. Child Prostitution The ugliest face of the sex trade in many Asian countries is child prostitution. A 2004 UNICEF report estimates 500,000 child sex workers in India alone. Given the phenomenal increase in sex tourism, the number is bound to have risen to frightening proportions. Poor families are tricked into selling their children.

DIRECT FORMS OF PROSTITUTION Number 1. 2. 3.

TYPE OF PROSTITUTION

Street: Clients solicited on the street, park or other public places. Serviced in side streets, vehicles, or short stay premises Brothel: Premises explicitly dedicated to providing sex. Better security than street. Often licensed by authorities Escort: Client contacts sex worker by phone or via hotel staff. Most covert form of sex work. Relatively expensive because of low client turnover. Service provided at clients home or hotel room Private: Client contacts sex worker by phone. Similar to escorts except services provided in sex workers premises. A variant in London and other big cities is 'flat' prostitutionhigh cost services in rented, serviced, inner city units Window or doorway: Brothels with sex workers on public display. Windows preferred in cold climates, doorways in warmer places Club, pub, bar, karaoke bar, dance hall: Clients solicited in alcohol vending venues and serviced on site or elsewhere Other all-male venues: Clients solicited in all-male venues such as barbershops, bathhouses, saunas, and mining camps. Serviced on site or elsewhere Door knock or hotel: Unattached males are approached in their hotel rooms or boarding houses Transport (ship, truck, train): Sex workers may board vehicles to service the crew or passengers or pick up clients at stations and terminals CB radio: Sex workers drive along highways using CB radio to exchange (jargon) messages with potential truck driver clients. Serviced at truck stops or parking areas Other methods of solicitation: Through various media including noticeboard and newspaper advertisements, 'sex worker catalogues' with mobile phone numbers, the internet via virtual brothels, etc. Services are delivered mostly in brothels and other indoor venues INDIRECT FORMS OF PROSTITUTION

4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

11.

12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19.

Bondage and discipline: sexual fantasy through role play. May involve the inflicting of pain, but genital contact is not routine Lap dancing: A recent development involving erotic dancing at close quarters without sexual contact Massage parlour: Premises ostensibly dedicated to providing massage, but a range of sexual services may be provided. In South East Asia similar arrangements may apply in barbershops Travelling entertainers: Actors, dancers and others involved in entertainment may also provide sexual services Beer girls: Young women hired by major companies to promote and sell products in bars and clubs. Sexual services sold to supplement income Street vendors and traders: Ostensibly marketing rural produce or other goods but supplementing income with sexual services Opportunistic: A person approached in a social venue may occasionally choose to charge for sexual favours if the client appears wealthy enough Femme libre: Women, usually single or divorced, who exchange sexual services for gifts. The gifts are then converted to cash Individual arrangements: The single mother who may have sex with her landlord in place of rent. Older sex workers who only deal with a small number of regular clients, by appointment. 'Kept' women or men. Concubines. The number of possible arrangements is vast Swingers clubs: Some swingers or couples sex clubs employ (undisclosed) sex workers if there is a shortage of female guests Geisha: Women engaged primarily to provide social company, but sex may ensue 'Sex for drugs': Women providing fellatio for crack cocaine in crack houses. Young homosexual men in Western countries may provide opportunistic sexual services paid with drugs Beach boys, bumsters, and gigolos: Men and boys engaged by women ostensibly for social purposes but sex is often involved. Some beach boys are under aged and many also service male clients Survival sex: A matter of degree, where starvation or other serious deprivation is imminent, particularly for dependants. Food or security may be the currency, rather than money

20.

21. 22. 23.

24.

25.

Causes of prostitution

1. Ill treatment by parents. 2. Bad company. 3. Family prostitutes.

4. Social customs. 5. Inability to arrange marriage, 6. Lack of sex education, media.

7. Prior incest and rape. 8. Early marriage and desertion. 9. Lack of recreational facilities, ignorance, and acceptance of prostitution.

10. Economic causes include poverty and economic distress. 11. Psychological causes include desire for physical pleasure, greed, and dejection.

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 childrens 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 crche 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 dont have any rights. Legalization of prostitution will promote women's health as they can have easy access to medical facilities which they dont have when it is illegal. Recognizing prostitution as an economic activity, thus enabling women in India to obtain working permits as "sex workers". Conclusion Thus either India shall legalize prostitution which is the most suitable step that can be taken or shall make such deterrent laws as to curve up the problem of prostitution. Laws should not be such as to just remove the prostitutes but also to change the mentality of people who are interested in paid sex by punishing them in such a manner that people of same mentality will dare to indulge themselves in similar activities.