Sex workers criminals no more, Govt amends law

A WORD OF SYMPATHY: Govt the Act is being amended to sympathise with the sex workers.

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New Delhi: Out of nearly three million sex workers in India, 40 per cent are below 18 years of age and most of them are either trafficked from neighbouring countries or are driven into the murky trade by poverty.

Fifty years after India enacted a legal framework to check prostitution, Government has finally decided to go for a radical change in the law.

The Immoral Traffic Prevention Act of 1956 is being amended and sex workers will now be treated as victims and not as offenders. They cannot even be asked to vacate the property they reside in.

"It’s not legalising, it’s decriminalising of the prostitutes. Most of them are in it not by choice," says Chairman, Centre for Social Research, Ranjana Kumari.

The Bill has been finalised after a series of discussions with the NGOs and is likely to be put before the Cabinet next week. It could even be introduced in the current session of Parliament.

The Bill defines human trafficking and intends to curb prostitution by tightening the noose around traffickers, pimps and even those who visit brothels.

The proposed law stipulates life imprisonment for child traffickers. Also, trafficking for social and religious purposes like in the case of Devdasis would be an offence. There would be an in-camera hearing of all the cases registered under the law.

While it may not be legtimising, the law may finally sympathise with those forced into the most ancient profession in human history.