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Activists say legalizing prostitution in India may spur abuse
By Rahul Verma
August 11, 2004
New Dehli - As the issue of legalizing prostitution in India gathers momentum,
leading women's groups have expressed fears that the move will increase abuse
against sex workers who are already subjected to violence.
Ever since the Indian government said it was considering legalizing sex work- a
statement that it has now denied - the debate has taken center-stage among
women's groups who remain bitterly divided on the issue.
On Tuesday, Indian human resource development minister Kanti Singh said the
federal government plans to hold talks with nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs) and state governments to assess ways to help sex workers.
Singh stresses that though she was wrongly quoted some weeks ago as saying the
government seeks to legalize sex work, her ministry - overseeing women and
children - hopes to involve women from different sectors in a discussion on the
issue.
"Whatever decision is taken will be on the basis of talks with all sections of
society," Singh says. "I cannot do anything by myself - but can only work on a
collective decision," she adds.
Women groups are already debating the issue of legalizing sex work. A group of
activists from various organizations got together in India's capital, New Delhi
Saturday to debate the implications of the move.
The meeting was organized by Saheli, one of the country's leading women's
groups.
"Most of the groups working on the issue agree that decriminalizing laws around
prostitution is a critical step that is urgently needed to enable women in
prostitution to access their rights and end police violations," says Saheli.
Laxmi Murthy of Saheli points out that the debate was meant to generate diverse
opinions on the issue. "We wanted the discussion to go beyond the binaries of
prostitution is bad versus sex work is good," she says.
Not many activists in the Saturday discussions were in favor of legalizing sex
work.
"That would only mean giving greater powers to the police which anyway exploits
us," protests Shabana, a sex-worker from the Veshya Anyay Muqabla Parishad
(VAMP), an organization based in Sangli in the western Indian state of
Maharashtra.
It is estimated that there are nearly two million sex workers in India. Most
live in squalid conditions, facing sexual and other forms of abuse, especially
from the police.
Instances of police sexually assaulting or raping sex workers are rampant. One
such case - the rape of a eunuch sex worker called Kokila in the southern
Indian city of Bangalore two months ago - has been the focus of a movement for
advocating the rights of sex workers.
On June 18 this year, Kokila was accosted by ten men while she was waiting for
clients. According to NGOs that have been working with her, two policemen
arrived while she was being sexually assaulted.
While most of her assailants escaped, the police took Kokila and two of her
assaulters to a police station, where her ordeal began.
Instead of being taken for a medical examination, she was harassed and forced
to remain naked for seven hours. At the police station, she was brutally
tortured and sexually assaulted for several hours.
Most women's groups believe that while legalizing may trigger more problems -
giving police the right to register sex workers and therefore controlling them,
for instance - they feel that sex work needs to be de-criminalized.
"Our common agenda is to combat the problems which police and criminal gangs
cause for us and to stop the rape of sex workers," stresses Meena Seshu of
Sangram, a Sangli-based NGO working with sex workers on health and other
issues, in an interview.
"They try to force the women to have sex without condoms and they refuse to pay
for services," says Seshu, who was one of those who attended the Saturday
debate.
Saheli points out that sex work is often accompanied by violence. "A lot of
that violence has to do with the stigma attached to the work," says Murthy.
"And this gives the police the upper hand," she remarks.
Prostitution by itself is not a crime in India, but sex trafficking or
soliciting for clients, advertising prostitution or living off the earnings of
a sex worker are illegal acts.
The government believes that prostitution is a "scourge" that needs to be
tackled.
"We have to see why women are being pulled into the flesh trade," Kanti Singh
says, adding that, "We have to ensure they lead a life of dignity."
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