Article 19(1) (g) of Indian Constitution guarantees that all citizens shall have the right “to practice any profession, or to carry on any profession, trade or business.” So, the moot question is why our country is way behind in legalizing one of the oldest professions known on this Earth. Yes, I’m talking about prostitution.

Article 19(1) (g) of Indian Constitution guarantees that all citizens shall have the right “to practice any profession, or to carry on any profession, trade or business.” So, the moot question is why our country is way behind in legalizing one of the oldest professions known on this Earth. Yes, I’m talking about prostitution.

When we examine sex as a trade, the combination of philosophy, cultural precedence, religious influence and politics made each country select how to handle it in its own way. In Singapore, sex for money is open and a common occurance. In Denmark women can be legal prostitutes so long as it is not their sole means of income. Canada, France and Mexico allow it. Prostitutes must be contained within brothels in  theNetherlands, unlike within England and Wales where prostitution is limited to individual providers. Israel, the historical stage for the Bible, allows it, too. However in India, it is still illegalCurrent Legal StatusThe current laws in India that legislate sex workers are fairly ambiguous. It is a system where prostitution is legally allowed to thrive, but which attempts 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. As long as it is done individually and voluntarily, a woman (male prostitution is not recognized in the Indian constitution) can use herbody’s attributes in exchange for material benefit.

Terming prostitution as illegal and an immoral blotch on society ignores the fact that there are near about 2 million prostitutes in India and a quarter of them are minors. They are at the mercy of an unscrupulous mafia which flourishes because of an absurd and outdated law.

In particular, the law forbids a sex worker to carry on her profession within 200 yards of a public place. Unlike as is the case with other professions, sex workers  are n o t 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 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.

In India, prostitution is illegal and comes under the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act, 1986. According to the Act, any sexual intercourse outside socially-acceptable unions is regarded as prostitution. Procuring, inducing or taking persons for the purpose of prostitution is punishable with rigorous imprisonment of atleast three years, but not more than seven years, and a fine of Rs 2,000.

Terming prostitution as illegal and an immoral blotch on society ignores the fact that there are near about 2 million prostitutes in India and a quarter of them are minors. They are at the mercy of a deadly mafia.

Benefits of Legalization Currently in India, our legal system penalizes prostitutes and their customers for what they do as consenting adults. Money is still spent on law enforcement efforts to catch prostitutes and their customers. Once caught, justice departments have to process these people through very expensive systems.

What are the end results? Police personnel and courtrooms are overburdened with these cases, having little or no impact on prostitution. The prostitutes and their customers pay their fines and are back to the streets in no time in a revolving door process. Catch and release may work for recreational fishing but it has no deterring affect on prostitution. Making prostitution legal will allow the act to be managed instead of ignored. Pimps and organized crime figures, who regularly treat their workers on subhuman levels, would no longer control women. In some countries, prostitute rings buy and sell women on the black market, force their women to comply through violence and create unhealthy working conditions. When prostitutes operate independently and in secret, many times they become abused by their own customers.

Legalizing prostitution would prevent underground prostitution that occurs today. When men want to pay for sex, they find prostitutes. These people work in massage parlors, escort services, dance bars and modeling. There are near about 2 million prostitutes in India. If we allow prostitution to remain hidden from view and basically invisible to the law as it is today, we allow a number of teens to be swept up into prostitution every year. When adult women decide to exchange money for sex, it is a personal choice open to them under the philosophy of a free, democratic society. When troubled minors who do not yet have the social survival skills decide to prostitute, they are often manipulated by opportunists who exploit these teens, typically leading to horrific ends. Legalizing prostitution will help prevent these instances through regulation.

Legalized, regulated prostitution has many benefits. Encounters can happen within controlled environments that bring about safety for both the customers and the prostitutes. Prostitutes would no longer be strong armed by pimps or organized crime rings. Underage prostitution would be curtailed.

Health-Safety Issues

The status quo is a poor health-safety plan. With sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) like syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia and herpes, prostitutes must be monitored to prevent the spread of these afflictions. It makes practical sense to monitor prostitution and what better way is there to monitor it than by legalizing it and regulating it? Legalization would require prostitutes to undergo regular medical examinations. STDs would be prevented from being spread as well as other communicable ailments like hepatitis and tuberculosis. It would also reduce gender violence, allow women

The Role of Government The best way to understand the current state of affairs concerning prostitution is to entertain an analogy. Pretend government is a business. Politicians would be the managers and prostitution would be a certain procedure the company had to manage. Would successful business ignore a procedure when it performed poorly? Would it allow a poor procedure to continue or would a successful business instead rethink its position and improve it? All successful companies must evolve over time if they are to stay in business and excel. Laws can change and adapt to meet the demands of a modern civilization. It is a far better strategy than hoping it will go away and clean up itself.

Where are the limits for two consenting adults in privacy? How government is shaped to handle that question will decide how women’s rights, social programs, public healthcare, the safety of youth and possibly the general safety of citizens are valued. If moral obstacles prevent citizens from obtaining a government that helps its people while preserving freedoms, then a paradigm shift must be considered. A movement away from values that are harmful is difficult only if one decides to cling to outdated, self-destructive traditions. Politicians should be careful how they address the philosophical limits of adult privacy. A number of people believe government should have no right deciding how adults conduct their sexual lives, even when an exchange of money is involved. Public debate has already addressed a women’s rights issue that is connected to a similar freedom. It is a pressing issue in our society and involves the lives of millions. It requires a good amount of legal attention.

– LawZ Bureau