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Society
From Frying Pan to Fire
by Nitin Jugran Bahuguna
In a move
that could have far-reaching implications for sex workers, the Indian
government recently proposed significant amendments to the Immoral
Traffic Prevention Act 1956 (ITPA). The amendments aim to protect sex
workers from exploitation at the hands of clients and police.
Two crucial amendments are the removal of Section 8, ITPA, which allows
the police to book a sex worker on charges of seducing or soliciting
customers in public places, and Section 20, which relates to the removal
of a sex worker from "any place". Another significant proposal is the
insertion of a new section 5C, which would, for the first, time, punish
a person visiting or found in a brothel for the purpose of sexual
exploitation.
The Human Resources Development Ministry's Department of Women and Child
Development (DWCD) has approved the Immoral Trafficking (Prevention)
Amendment Bill 2005. Even as the Bill is posed for introduction in
Parliament, strong criticism against the proposed legislation comes in
from an unexpected quarter - the sex workers themselves.
"What will happen to our families if clients are punished, and stop
coming to us for fear of imprisonment," asks Mala Singh, a sex worker
from Sonagachi, the red light area in Kolkata, West Bengal. Her opinion,
shared by many other sex workers, is that the removal of Section 8 is
self-defeating if Section 5C is introduced.
Perturbed by what they see as a real threat to their livelihood, sex
workers from across India converged in New Delhi on December 7 to
protest the proposed legislation and demand that the government gives
them fair hearing before framing laws for their benefit. The meeting was
jointly organised by New Delhi-based National Network of Sex Workers,
the Kolkata-based collective of over 65,000 sex workers Durbar Mahila
Samanvay Committee (DMSC), and the Delhi-based NGO Lawyer's Collective.
"Unknown to us, the DWCD is pushing for a law that penalises clients
visiting brothels," says Malashree, a sex worker from Andhra Pradesh.
Rajni, a eunuch sex worker from Bangalore, Karnataka, is also plainly
sceptical. "How many people are aware that, in the southern states of
India 'Hijras' (eunuchs), can survive only by doing sex work. In
Bangalore, at least 10 Hijras are arrested every month under the Act.
How is the new law going to help us when we have not even been consulted
in its framing," she objects. As a sex worker activist, Rajni works with
2,000 hijra sex workers in Bangalore.
The government's contention, however, is that before any amendments are
carried out, an opportunity is given to different stakeholders to give
their comments and suggestions on the draft amendments. This is always
done either through an advertisement in all major daily newspapers or
through a notification in the official Gazette, an official source said.
Delhi-based human rights activist Joseph Gathia agrees. "There was a
notification on this and some other Bills in the major dailies sometime
in March 2005. I distinctly remember seeing it, because there was also a
notification regarding the Domestic Violence Bill, for which I had made
a representation," he says.
He also points out that, for years, women's organisations in India and
across the world have been demanding that laws should target clients,
and not sex workers. "Nowhere in the world is there a law punishing
clients.
Now, when the Indian government is taking the unprecedented step of
making clients accountable, as demanded by so many groups, these same
people are raising a hue and cry against it," Gathia says.
Sex workers' organisations and those who support their cause, however,
have a range of other objections as well.
The move to punish clients is not in accordance with the existing
legislative policy as understood in the ITPA, which is to punish third
parties who profit from prostitution, explains Anand Grover, Director,
Lawyers Collective. He stresses that the ITPA does not criminalise
prostitution per se.
Sex workers' organisations acknowledge DWCD's attempt to review the law.
In fact, Section 8 - which the DWCD seeks to delete - is used
extensively to harass sex workers who carry safe sex tools, such as
condoms. "This is a welcome move, but what is the point of removing
penalties against soliciting if the police can continue to harass us
under the new Section 5C?" argues Mala Singh.
"The prohibitionist model has failed to protect sex workers, who are
driven underground by clients wanting to avoid the police. Sex workers
are known to have experienced loss of control over their working
conditions and, as a result, have become vulnerable to violence,
exploitation by pimps and to sexually transmitted diseases and HIV
infection," adds Tripti Tandon of the Lawyers Collective's HIV/AIDS
Unit.
Another amendment - to Section 13 (2) - proposes to give the powers of
Special Police Officer under the ITPA from the Inspector of Police to
the Sub-Inspector. This is cause for alarm among sex workers, who are
worried that this will give the local police additional power to harass
them.
"Police powers under the law should be brought under scrutiny.
Trafficking thrives not because sex workers are party to it, but because
of the nexus between the police and the mafia," says Satyawati, a sex
worker from Andhra Pradesh.
The police disagree. "Most police stations have only one inspector but
at least two or three sub-inspectors. By delegating Special Police
Officer powers to sub-inspectors, who are also senior-level officers,
cases can be registered more quickly and taken cognisance of," says O P
Mishra, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, Delhi.
In his opinion, this is a convenient generalisation. "You have to look
at the police not as a whole, but in their different individual
approaches.
The Delhi police has taken the lead, not only in the country but in
South-East Asia, by securing convictions against brothel owners based on
complaints from sex workers. This has led to the sealing of 11 brothels
in the city so far," he claims. Mishra, who was the Special Police
Officer in charge during some of the convictions against brothel owners,
stresses that instead of condemning the police, civil society should
work with them.
"All police officers are not involved in anti-trafficking drives. I
agree, however, that rigorous orientation and sensitisation training is
essential for all police personnel working in this area," he adds.
This echoes Gathia's concerns as well: "The police and civil society
have to mutually agree on how to implement the Act. The problem lies
here, not in the provisions themselves."
Meanwhile, the general consensus among the sex workers' organisations
and public health organisations is that the target group, namely the sex
workers, have been ignored in the policy framing process, as a result of
which their genuine and real issues have not been properly addressed.
December 25,
2005
By arrangement with
Women's Feature Service
Top
| Society
The Week of December 25, 2005
India 2006 : A Nation Stung to
Action? by Rajinder Puri
Pakistan's Monochromatic Foreign
Policy by Dr. Subhash Kapila
NY Transit Workers' Demands &
Pensions of the Powerful by Gaurang Bhatt, MD
Keep Back Pain at Bay by Dr.
Savitha Suri
Legacy of the city of pearls -
Hyderabad by Neha Girotra
Quiet Laughter from within The
Child's Soul by Dhiraj Bhimji Raniga
Double Game by Vikram Karve
Live Life Kingsize : A Play by
Kartik Krishnan
Here's Looking at You, Brother
by Aparna Sharma
Many Shades of Red by Mehru
Jaffer
Rajni Kumar : A Class Apart - A
Profile
Reclaiming the Earth for All by
Deepti Priya Mehrotra
From Frying Pan to Fire by
Nitin Jugran Bahuguna
No Safe Place in Kerala by
Sreedevi Jacob
The Colors of Evil A Review
by G. Swaminathan
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