'We may be tailors in the morning, sex workers in the night': Don’t legalise sex work

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Nayantara N| The News Minute| November 18, 2014| 9.00 pm IST

“Entering the profession of prostitution and to sleep with an unknown man is not easy; circumstances coerce us to take up this. There are several reasons why a woman becomes a prostitute – it maybe to feed her family, to educate her kids or to take care of her ailing mother. We are pushed into this against our wishes,” Savita, a former sex worker says.

However for a sex worker this is not her only identity, she adds. This is why, many sex workers in Karnataka are against the Karnataka Government’s decision to look into legalising the profession.

About two months ago, Minister of State for Women and Child Development announced that a committee would be set up to looking into the demand of legalisation of prostitution in Karnataka. Prostitution is legal in India, however, soliciting in public places, pimping or owning brothels, trafficking women is illegal and punishable under law.

The objective of the proposal is to provide protection for sex workers against harassment by clients and pimps. Women are often subjected to physical and sexual violence which go unreported because of the stigma attached to this profession.

Speaking against this proposal, Savita explains, “If the proposal is legalised, the government will issue me an identity card which will carry my original name. For the purpose of this profession, most of us have live by a different name so that we maintain some distinction.

Besides, through this card, the government will formally declare my identity as a sex worker. Some of us are tailors by the morning and sex workers by the night, yet the ‘sex worker’ tag stands out. The society will frown upon us.”

They also fear that since the identity card would carry details such as address, clients would hunt them down and harass them or worse, their children, at their homes.

Darshana Mitra, a lawyer at the Alternative Law Forum wants the government to take a different approach. “We don’t need legalisation of prostitution in the state. We have plenty of laws, such as the ITPA (Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act) to book pimps or those who commit violence against these women. What we needs is amendment and effective implementation of the laws.”

“The sex-workers are not full-time participants. They enter and leave the profession as per their wishes. Hence, the identity card will not capture the fluidity of sex workers, instead solidify their identity,” she said.

If the intention of the government is to help them, there are alternative ways. Identification of sex workers for the purposes of doling out services and schemes can be done through NGOs working for such women, she adds.

Samraksha is an organisation that works for sex workers and women in distress. Sumathi, a member says that the DIG of Bangalore had issued a circular in this regard which clearly specified that sex workers were not to be harassed by policemen. Yet, some women get beaten up when on road even when they are not soliciting for clients in public places.

“If there is anyone who will benefit from this legalisation, it is probably the transgender community because most of them are full-time sex workers, that is their identity,” Savita opines.

The committee comprising of experts will debate upon the pros and cons of legalisation of prostitution. Famous writer Nisar Ahmed and Lingayat spiritual head Mathe Mahadevi has spoken in favour of the proposal. But ground reality has a different story to tell. Will legalisation of prostitution be a boon or bane?

