Activists protest against move to criminalise paid sex



The government's move to criminalise the buying of sex in the country hasn't reached the Union cabinet yet, and the proposed amendment to the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act (ITPA) has already run into protests from activists and sex workers.



Calling the proposal regressive, women's groups came out strongly against it, and demanded that this change be removed from the amendments that the ministry of women and child development had recently circulated among other ministries for feedback.



The move is being opposed primarily on the grounds that punishing "clients" will adversely affect those who are already in the profession, and the change won't kill the economy of sex work but just drive it underground.



Activists and sex workers are demanding the withdrawal of the proposed amendment to the ITPA to criminalise paid sex



Bharti Dey, head of All India Network of Sex Workers, said: "At present, sex workers can insist the client to use a condom, but if you start penalising them it will increase our dependence on pimps and rob us of the right to insist on condoms, putting us at a greater risk of HIV and AIDS."



The government did not bother to consult the prostitutes before proposing such changes to the Act activist Madhu Mehra said.



On February 11, Mail Today had reported that a Cabinet note on amendments to ITPA proposes to punish a person visiting a brothel with the purpose of buying sex.



The note suggests that "clients" visiting brothels be recognised as offenders who, on first conviction, can face a jail term of anything between three months and one year, or a fine between Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000 or both.



Getting caught for a second time would mean a jail term of one to five years and also a fine between Rs 20,000 and Rs 50,000.



The definition of a brothel under IPTA is wide.

It states that not just red light districts but any house, room, conveyance or place where sex is being bought by a "client" is a brothel.





