A POWER POINT PRESENTATION BY DR.SANGEETA CHOWDHRY & DR.SUNIL SHARMA, DEPARTMENT OF FORENSIC MEDICINE & TOXICOLOGY, GOVT. MEDICAL COLLEGE, JAMMU (JAMMU AND KASHMIR)
3. There are many definition
of Prostitution. The simplest PROSTITUTION
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.
4. Section 373. Buying minor for
purposes of prostitution, etc.
PROSTITUTION
Whoever buys, hires or otherwise
obtains possession of any person
under the age of eighteen years with
intent that such person shall at any
age be employed or used for the
purpose of prostitution or illicit
intercourse with any person or for
any unlawful and immoral purpose,
of knowing it to be likely that such
person will at any age be employed or
used for any purpose, shall be
punished with imprisonment of either
description for a term which may
extend to ten years, and shall also be
liable to fine.
5. Indian Penal Code (IPC)
Section 372. Selling minor for purposes
of prostitution, etc. PROSTITUTION
Whoever sells, lets to hire, or otherwise
disposes of any person under the age of
eighteen years with intent that such
person shall at any age be employed or
used for the purpose of prostitution or
illicit intercourse with any person or for
any unlawful and immoral purpose, or
knowing it to be likely that such person
will at any age be employed or used for
any such purpose, shall be punished
with imprisonment of either description
for a term which may extend to ten
years, and shall be liable to fine.
6. DIFFERENT KINDS OF PROSTITUTION
•Street prostitutes
•Bar dancers
• Call girls
• Religious prostitutes
• Escort girls
• Road side brothel
• Child prostitutes
• Fricatrice prostitutes
• Gimmick prostitutes
• Beat prostitutes
17. CAUSES OF PROSTITUTION
Ill treatment by parent
Bad company
Family prostitutes
Social customs
Inability to arrange marriage
Lack of sex education, media
Prior incest and rape
Early marriage and desertion
Lack of recreational facilities,
Ignorance and acceptance of prostitution
Economic causes include poverty and economic distress
Psychological causes include desire for physical pleasure, greed, and dejection
31. SOME SHOCKING FACTS ABOUT
PROSTITUTION
It existed across cultures and times.
32. MUMBAI ALONE BEING HOME TO
OVER 100,000 PROSTITUTES
India has the largest market for prostitution in South Asia,
with Mumbai alone being home to over 100,000 prostitutes.
According to the Human Rights Watch report, 15 million prostitutes
of varied age groups, live and work in India.
33. SOME SHOCKING FACTS ABOUT PROSTITUTION
Every hour, four women and girls in India enter
prostitution, three of them against their will.
34. SOME SHOCKING FACTS ABOUT PROSTITUTION
A large number of prostitutes in India are minors.
35. SOME SHOCKING FACTS ABOUT PROSTITUTION
Trading in minor girls is rampant and has increased significantly in
recent years.
36. SOME SHOCKING FACTS ABOUT PROSTITUTION
A significant portion of the sex workers in India are at the risk of being HIV positive.
HIV/AIDS among prostitutes has emerged as a huge cause of concern. According to a WHO
report of 2001,
it is estimated that 50% of prostitutes in Mumbai (the city being hub to the largest number
of prostitutes in the country) are HIV positive!
37. SOME SHOCKING FACTS ABOUT PROSTITUTION
Apart from red light areas, the trade is also carried out in the form of fake massage and
escort service centres.
38. SOME SHOCKING FACTS ABOUT PROSTITUTION
All major cities in India have networks of call girls that are run like corporate companies.
40. SOME SHOCKING FACTS ABOUT PROSTITUTION
HOMOSEXUAL PROSTITUTION FEMALE HETEROSEXUAL
Male homosexual prostitution has also existed alongside female heterosexual
prostitution.
41. SOME SHOCKING FACTS ABOUT PROSTITUTION
The mythologies surrounding virginity and exploitation of young
girls in prostitution and sex industry to supply virgin girls is a
leading cause for child prostitution.
42. SOME SHOCKING FACTS ABOUT PROSTITUTION
Exploitative relationship with a pimp or a madam is another dark face of prostitution.
43. SOME SHOCKING FACTS ABOUT PROSTITUTION
Forced prostitution and human trafficking happens across the world
especially in the developing countries.
44. SOME SHOCKING FACTS ABOUT PROSTITUTION
Cases of repeated rape leading to prostitution is very common.
45. SOME SHOCKING FACTS ABOUT PROSTITUTION
Criminalizing prostitution at the expense of the "female provider" but not
enforcing the law to nab the "male customer" is a hard truth of selective law
enforcement.
46. SOME SHOCKING FACTS ABOUT PROSTITUTION
Methods like raids, undercover police work, moral exhortation and
prosecution are biased against the women.
47. SOME SHOCKING FACTS ABOUT
PROSTITUTION
Elimination efforts focused only on the prostitutes and not their customers is the norm of
the day.
48. SOME SHOCKING FACTS ABOUT PROSTITUTION
Elimination or legalization of prostitution and social issues attached to them are not
addressed with an open and compassionate mind.
49. SOME SHOCKING FACTS ABOUT PROSTITUTION
Consensus and resultant action to eradicate child prostitution and forced prostitution is still
not there.
50. IS PROSTITUTION LEGAL IN INDIA?
Yes Prostitution is Legal in India!!.........................................................
In India, prostitution itself (exchanging sex for money) is not illegal, but the
surrounding activities (operating brothels, pimping, soliciting sex etc) are illegal.
51. THE LAW GOVERNING PROSTITUTION IN INDIA
The Law governing prostitution in India is Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act which is a
1986 amendment to the primary law passed in 1956 {known as the Immoral Traffic
(Suppression) Act}. The law does not criminalize prostitution per se but only organized
form of prostitution is against the law. If a woman uses attributes of her body voluntarily
and individually she goes unpunished.
52. IS PROSTITUTION LEGAL IN INDIA?
The current laws of India allow prostitution to thrive, but attempt to hide it from the public. The
primary law dealing with the status of sex workers is the 1956 law referred to as the Immoral Traffic
(Suppression) Act (SITA). According to this law, prostitutes can practice their trade privately but
cannot legally solicit customers in public. Organized prostitution (brothels, prostitution rings, pimping
etc) is illegal. As long as it is done individually and voluntarily, a woman (male prostitution is not
recognized in the Indian constitution) can use her body's attributes in exchange for material benefit. In
particular, the law forbids a sex worker to carry on her profession within 200 yards of a public place.
53. IS PROSTITUTION LEGAL IN INDIA?
Unlike as is the case with other professions, sex workers are not protected under normal labour laws,
but they possess the right to rescue and rehabilitation if they desire and possess all the rights of other
citizens. In practice SITA is not commonly used. The Indian Penal Code (IPC) which predates the SITA
is often used to charge sex workers with vague crimes such as "public indecency" or being a "public
nuisance" without explicitly defining what these consist of. Recently the old law has been amended as
The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act or PITA. Attempts to amend this to criminalise clients have been
opposed by the Health Ministry, and have encountered considerable opposition.
54. THE LAW GOVERNING PROSTITUTION
IN INDIA
Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act:
The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act or PITA is a 1986 amendment of legislation passed in 1956 as a result of the
signing by India of the United Nations' declaration in 1950 in New York on the suppression of trafficking.
The act was then called the All India Suppression of Immoral Traffic Act (SITA), was amended to the current law. The
laws were intended as a means of limiting and eventually abolishing prostitution in India by gradually criminalizing
various aspects of sex work. The main points of the PITA are as follows:
55. THE LAW GOVERNING PROSTITUTION IN INDIA
Clients:
A client is guilty of consorting with prostitutes and can be charged if he engages in sex acts
with a sex worker within 200 yards of a public place or "notified area". (Imprisonment of
up to 3 months,) The client may also be punished if the sex worker is below 18 years of age.
(From 7 to 10 years of imprisonment, whether with a child or a minor )
56. THE LAW GOVERNING PROSTITUTION IN INDIA
Pimps and Babus: Babus or pimps or live-in lovers who live off a prostitute's earnings are
guilty of a crime. Any adult male living with a prostitute is assumed to be guilty unless he
can prove otherwise. (Imprisonment of up to 2 years with fine.)
57. THE LAW GOVERNING PROSTITUTION IN INDIA
Brothel: Landlords and brothel-
keepers can be prosecuted, maintaining a brothel is illegal. (From 1 to 3 years
imprisonment with fine for first offence.) Detaining someone at a brothel for the purpose of
sexual exploitation can lead to prosecution. (Imprisonment of more than 7 years.)
58. THE LAW GOVERNING PROSTITUTION IN INDIA
Procuring and trafficking: A person procures or attempts to procure anybody are liable to
be punished. Also a person who moves a person from one place to another, (human
trafficking), can be prosecuted similarly. (From 3 to 7 years imprisonment with fine.)
59. THE LAW GOVERNING PROSTITUTION
IN INDIA
Rescued Women
“Prostitution-free area"
Rescued Women: The government is legally obligated to provide rescue and rehabilitation in a "protective home" for
any sex worker requesting assistance.
Public place in context of this law includes places of public religious worship, educational institutions, hostels,
hospitals etc. A "notified area" is a place which is declared to be "prostitution-free" by the state government under
the PITA. Brothel in context of this law, is a place which has two or more sex workers. Prostitution itself is not an
offence under this law, but soliciting, brothels and pimps are illegal home.
60. THE LAW GOVERNING PROSTITUTION
IN INDIA
The law prohibits/criminalize-under some conditions mentioned in the upcoming slides
61. THE LAW GOVERNING PROSTITUTION IN INDIA
Seduction/solicitation of customer
62. THE LAW GOVERNING PROSTITUTION IN INDIA
Anywhere near a public place. In particular, the law forbids a sex worker to carry on her
profession within 200 yards of a public place.
(IMPRISONMENT OF UP TO 3 MONTHS WITH FINE)
63. THE LAW GOVERNING PROSTITUTION
IN INDIA
Publication of phone number of call girls
(IMPRISONMENT UP TO 6 MONTHS WITH FINE)
64. THE LAW GOVERNING PROSTITUTION IN INDIA
Organized form of prostitution i.e. a brothel, pimps, Prostitution
rings etc.
65. THE LAW GOVERNING PROSTITUTION IN INDIA
A sex worker being below 18 years of age
66. THE LAW GOVERNING PROSTITUTION IN INDIA
Procurement and trafficking of women
67. WHY PROSTITUTION?
Most women who enter the prostitution industry don’t do so voluntarily. Indian culture looks down at
the idea of selling one’s body for money or other material gains. Most women are forced into the
industry for a variety of reasons – the most common being poverty. A woman from a poor family,
usually illiterate and with no skills to find a job chooses to enter this profession. For such women, an
accidental encounter with a pimp is an opportunity to supplement the meagre family income or to
educate their children. At times, poverty stricken parents sell their daughters to brothels in exchange
for money. They think their girls would have a better life at a brothel – at least better than the life they
lead at home.
68. WHY PROSTITUTION?
Some women are lured into the job by dishonest relatives, friends, boyfriends and
husbands. Since brothels buy women for money, acquaintances and lovers lure women on
promises of marriage or job sand sell them to brothels.
Women, whose mothers, sisters or other close friends or relatives are in the profession, are
quite likely to become prostitutes themselves.
69. THE TRAFFICKING PROCESS
Every year, thousands of Nepalese girls and women are trafficked illegally across the Indo-
Nepal border. Girls as young as nine year olds are bought for 1000 to 50,000 Rupees.
Trafficking girls is rampant because the police fall for the money as well as offer to visit the
brothel free of cost.
Similarly, poor girls begging on roadsides in various cities of India are rounded up and
taken to brothels.
70. THE TRAFFICKING PROCESS
At the brothel, they are subjected to a tutorial where they are taught how to keep their
clients happy, and are also exposed to various kinds of pornographic content. They are
repeatedly raped by the pimps if they do not agree to get in the trade consensually. Girls
who don’t cooperate and refuse to have sex are subjected to brutal, inhumane treatment.
They are manhandled, tied up and hit, tortured, locked up in dark windowless chambers
for days without food and water, and raped repeatedly until they give in.
71. LIFE IN A BROTHEL
Brothels normally consist of several rooms or chambers, with grilled windows, where
women are locked up. It is a distressing sight, with women caged behind bars, with men
looking into each chamber to find the woman they like best. The brothels look like shacks –
dark, melancholy, dirty and airless.
Five to six years is the average work life of a sex worker, after this period she is too
exhausted or diseased to work, or she has had children of her own.
72. THE GOVERNMENT’S ATTITUDE
If there is any community that requires the government’s assistance and rehabilitation, it is the
prostitute’s community. It is a sad fact but women are forced into the profession and imprisoned at
brothels. It is incorrect to prosecute and punish a woman for working in a brothel, though it is illegal,
because most women aren’t there out of their own free will. However, pimps and people involved in the
trafficking process should be heavily penalized and punished.
73. Justice Dalveer Bhandari JUSTICE AK Patnaik
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on 10th December, 2009 asked the Centre whether it could legalize prostitution if
it wasn't possible to curb it.
"When you say it is the world's oldest profession and when you are not able to curb it by laws, why don't you legalize
it? You can then monitor the trade, rehabilitate and provide medical aid to those involved," Justices Dalveer Bhandari
and AK Patnaik told Solicitor-General Gopal Subramaniam.
"They (sex workers) have been operating in one way or the other and nowhere in the world have they been able to
curb it by legislation. In some cases, they (the trade) is carried out in a sophisticated manner. So, why don't you
legalize it?" the judges asked.
74. ARGUMENTS IN FAVOUR OF LEGALIZING THE SEX TRADE IN INDIA
The first and foremost argument put forth by the proponents of legalization of prostitution
is that it is inevitable. The benefit is that we will have a track record of sex workers and
thus can design a comprehensive strategy to combat the medical and other problems faced
by them.
Here are some of the advantages of legalizing the prostitution industry in India:-
75. ARGUMENTS IN FAVOUR OF LEGALIZING THE SEX TRADE IN INDIA
It will help in ensuring proper rehabilitation of people engaged in the trade.
Legalization of prostitution will also help in avoiding exploitation of the sex
workers and their children by the middlemen.
It will also help the workers to have access to adequate medical facilities for the
treatment of their ailments.
It will end the exploitation of minors.
76. ARGUMENTS IN FAVOUR OF
LEGALIZING THE SEX TRADE IN INDIA
It will reduce the criminal and human trafficking activities associated with prostitution.
Legalization will also reduce clandestine, hidden, illegal and street prostitution that is
hazardous to life and good health.
However, till the industry is actually legalized, it is essential that Indian laws be framed
not only to curb the exploitation of the sex workers but also change the mentality of the
people who indulge in such activities.
77. CONCLUSION...................
Legalization of prostitution is a debatable and ongoing controversy in India. However, it helps to
remember that prostitution has flourished as an industry for so many years despite being illegal.
Legalizing it, on the one hand, could push more women as well as pimps to enter the business. On the
other hand, legalization gives the government and police authorities more control over the brothel’s
activities; it may be possible to ensure that only women who want to work voluntarily are employed
there, and that they receive payment, without being exploited or beaten. Also, women who have been
forced into the business need to be rescued and rehabilitated.
The need of the hour is to stop trafficking, because trafficking is a major cause of prostitution. 80 per
cent prostitutes are trafficked or forced into the business. So let us all join hands to get rid of this social
evil.