Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Project submitted to- Dr. Ayan Hazra (Faculty, Sociology) Project Submitted by- Abhishek Kumar B.A.L.L.B. (Hons.) Semester III, Economics (major) Section b, Roll no. 05 Date of submission- 26/08/2013
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
At the outset, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude and thank my teacher, Dr. Ayan Hazra for putting his trust in me and giving me a project topic such as this and for having the faith in me to deliver Sir, thank you for an opportunity to help me grow. The practical realization of this project has obligated the assistance of many persons. I express my deepest regard and gratitude for Dr. Ayan Hazra, Faculty Sociology. His consistent supervision, constant inspiration and invaluable guidance have been of immense help in understanding and carrying out the nuances of the project report. Also I would like to thank our Librarian and Library Assistant who in one or the other way has helped me in finding relevant books. I would like to thank my family and friends without whose support and encouragement, this project would not have been a reality. I take this opportunity to also thank the University and the Vice Chancellor for providing extensive database resources in the Library and through Internet. Some printing errors might have crept in, which are deeply regretted. I would be grateful to receive comments and suggestions to further improve this project report. - Abhishek Kumar - Semester-III - Roll no. 05
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Prostitution in India Prostitution as deviance Religious prostitution: devdasi tradition Caste based prostitution Forced prostitution: sex trafficking Socio economic reasons 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 16 17 18
Social conditions of a sex worker Legal status of sex worker Recommendations Rehabilitation of a sex worker Major findings Conclusion Bibliography
INTRODUCTION
The fight is not for womens status, but for humans worth. The claim is not to end inequality of women, but to restore Universal Justice. -Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer1 The plight of sex workers in India is unfortunately more sneered than pitied. Being unsympathetic to the marginalized section of our society has become the monstrous societal fashion. The immensely ambiguous position of law regarding prostitution in India has worsened their situation. It is a serious social crime though in legislature, it has no legal status. Social stigma although is one of the major aspect related to the utter disgrace of sex workers. They are looked upon as if they are the scum in the society Jawaharlal Nehru as President of Allahabad Municipal committee, 1923 has observed that prostitution has existed from the dawn of the history and no one should be in the vain that it could end up suddenly. Though it is looked with disgust and contempt, the truth is it feeds lakhs of women and children in India. It is a Necessary Evil in every society. Victim of circumstances, most of these women are still in this profession as there is absence of any alternative source of income and social acceptability. They are being trafficked, abandoned by their parents/husbands, false hope of job, poverty (to support their family). It is just a distant dream and a mere futile attempt for them for liberation from prostitution if they try to shed off their past and start a new lease of life as there is no fraternity and tolerability in the social mainstream. In no society they are accepted as their part again, once they have entered to the profession, no matter how pitiful the reason of their entering the profession may be.
Objective
To understand the position of a sex worker in the Indian society To study the ancient cultures that brought a women to the profession on prostitution To scrutinize what status do a sex worker have in the Indian legal system To analyze the rehabilitation programs by the government and its after-effects
Research methodology
This research is descriptive and analytical in nature. Secondary and Electronic resources have been largely used to gather information and data about the topic. Books and other reference as guided by Faculty of Sociology have been primarily helpful in giving this project a firm structure. Websites, dictionaries and articles have also been referred. Footnotes have been provided wherever needed, to acknowledge the source.
Sharma, K.L Indian social structure and change (2008), Rawat publication 2008 pg. 265 Ibid pg. 269
no social stigma or taboo is attached to their social status, (this is only until the time they are the breadwinners and only in their own tribe. For the people outside their tribe, upper caste people look down to them with disgrace and disrespect.)
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http://www.anti-caste.org/2010/09/devadasi-prostitutes-of-god.html Susmita Guru, Caste based prostitution in Madhya Pradesh, Womens link, July-Sept 2011 Vol. 17 43 6 Ibid pg 44
At least 100 million people are involved in human trafficking in India and 90% of human trafficking is intra country.
Every hour 4 women are forced in to prostitution out of which 3 do not do so with their will.
Trafficking in persons which shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. The three methods by which women are channeled into forced prostitution in India are false employment promises, false marriage proposals and kidnapping. Women are most vulnerable to these crimes after being deserted by their spouses, when they are in states of economic distress and after experiencing sexually exploitative social customs and family traditions of slavery. Major Indian surveys on women and child prostitutes reveal that they were sold or tricked by their relatives or agents working for brothel owners and pimps. The agent who brings the girls sells them as commercial sex workers (CSW) to the brothel owner. Once the deal is struck the girls have to work for the brothel owner to pay off their cost. Though the agent pays a petty sum to buy the girls from their sourcebe it from parents, husband, boyfriend or siblings, repeated trafficking of such women means a lucrative business for the agents and the brothel owners. Those from Indias most disadvantaged social economic strata are particularly vulnerable to sex trafficking. Women and girls are trafficked within the country for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced marriage, which may further lead to prostitution. Due to persistent inequalities worldwide, women are more vulnerable to this practice which is a consequence of structured gender inequality in the form of violence.
Socio-Economic Reasons
Women do not share an equal status with men in the present Indian society. Till the present date, a woman is not being accepted as independent individual identity. A woman quite often goes through Identity Crises, which lead to this profession. Mostly, she is either dragged by the society or abject poverty. Following are the reasons which lead a girl/woman to the Flesh Trade: Poverty and Economic Distress: 37% of the countrys population continues to reel under below poverty line. This is the major reason why women are lead to the path of sex work. Early marriage and desertion: studies have revealed that around 40% of girls women in this profession came to it as a result of unsuccessful marriage, desertion of the wife by the husband. Ill-treatment by parents: Illiteracy. No other source of income. Family prostitutes. Inability to arrange marriage. Lack of sex education, media. Prior incest and rape. Lack of recreational facilities, ignorance, and acceptance of prostitution. Psychological causes include desire for physical pleasure, greed, and dejection.
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Seduction/solicitation of customer Prostitution anywhere near a public place Publication of phone number of call girls Organized form of prostitution i.e. a brothel, pimps, Prostitution rings etc. A sex worker being below 18 years of age Procurement and trafficking of women
We can conclude that if a prostitute works for self and uses her own premises for entertaining clients she is conducting herself lawfully! But then why do we often see video footage on T.V. where a sex worker and her client are being herded into the police jeep? Here comes the shady picture of police who might not book the sex worker and her client under the above mentioned act, they do it under provisions like public indecency, public nuisance etc. of the Indian Penal Code. Male prostitution is not recognized in the law though it is quite prevalent.
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http://www.legalserviceindia.com/article/l269-Prostitution-in-India.html The suppression of Immoral Trafficking in women and girls (Prevention) Act, 1956
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RECOMMENDATIONS Let us not Legalize Prostitution, Let us Institutionalize it- Prostitution has been deep rooted in India; it is not easy to eradicate it completely. Moreover, if we look at prevalent laws in India, the primary goal of laws against prostitution is to deter women from becoming prostitutes but though the criminalization of the act is an attempt to punish prostitutes, it overlooks the reasons why some women take up such a dangerous work or lifestyle. If prostitution was institutionalized, it could be regulated, which would help the women immensely. The women who work as prostitutes usually do it out of desperation, and the least that the government can do is to help them stay safe. Let us try to institutionalize prostitution way ahead, by adopting welfare schemes like forming co-operatives (Samitis) or some form of regulatory authority for women already in this profession by proving better working condition, by way of instituting certain regulatory frameworks to be supervised by above mentioned organizations to regulate the profession of prostitution. In this regard ensuring better working conditions by way of providing better health care facilities, Ensuring specific working hours, enlightening them about their rights to prevent them from being subjected to violence and discrimination, providing incentives like health care, education, job opportunities for family members (if any) of Prostitutes. Rehabilitation programs must be initiated to them after they leave their present occupation, so that they can avail sustainable means of livelihood for their future. There is need to postulate administrative disciplinary by training police personnel and other law enforcement agencies in professionally dealing with issues related to prostitution. To encourage the participation of social activism by recognizing the role played by NGOs in alleviating the status of Prostitutes. India must fight to reduce, rather than promote the sex industry. There must be education in schools on what constitutes a healthy relationship towards sex and women, in order to preserve the dignity and respect of all humans. Husbands and men who exploit the sexual services of women must be made aware of the health implications of their actions. Most importantly, there must be support for those women and children who want to leave prostitution. The government, NGOs and other community organizations must focus on moving resources to providing real alternatives for women and girls in prostitution, so that they too can realize their basic human rights.
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the sex trade, thus many prostituted women believe this too. A random Google search on the murder of prostituted women in India reveals there were at least five reported and documented murder cases annually in different brothel districts across the country for the last ten years, and those are rare only in that they were reported. The government should on the other hand open shelter homes for kids belonging to these areas and provide them education. It should try and spread awareness of protected sex in these areas. Taking a step towards eradication would resolve this problem. Showing these women a ray of hope and giving them a chance to relive a life of dignity would create a culturally sustainable society. These women can be helped by providing them some vocational training, girls of tender age can be sent to schools and women can be employed in small scale working units or trained for self employment and brought back to mainstream life. A number of NGOS are running in the entire country these organizations can be oriented and deputed to look after shelter homes and rehabilitation of these women and girls11. Trafficking in women and children is a serious violation of human rights. However, it was not on the priority list of law enforcement agencies earlier and, therefore, did not get the required attention. There were many distortions in law enforcement and delivery of justice, with many women being arrested, convicted and threatened. Many a times they were pushed back in to brothel, even though they were victims of trafficking. So there is a need to have obligatory assistance and protection provided to the victims which can be range from protecting the identity and privacy of victims; ensuring full provision of information on legal proceeding and facilitating them to present their views, providing physical and psychological recovery of victims, ensuring physical safety of victims and also exploring the possibility of domestic law providing victims with compensation. Victims must be protected not only from retaliation by the criminals, but also from re-victimization. This is the responsibility of both the executive and the Judicial System. At the same time protection strategies must not go beyond a limit were they become paternalistic but be made more holistic thereby seeking not only to protect but also promoting human rights of all victims.
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http://indialawyers.wordpress.com/2011/07/25/rehabilitation-of-women-in-prostitution-%E2%80%93-a-time-foraction/
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Major Findings:
Prostitution never was in ancient Indian society, a taboo thing. People were open about it and in fact sex workers sometimes had a respectable social status. Prostitution in the present Indian society is looked down upon as a serious social crime though in law, they do not have a legal/illegal status. In some parts of India, there are some tribes, who donates their daughters to the temples in the name of god but they are further forced to the flesh trade. Some tribes in India follows prostitution as a profession and sex workers have higher social status as compared to those who gets married. Because of the low social status and dependency of a woman, economically, on a man, many women results in entering into this trade. Major Indian surveys on women and child prostitutes reveal that they were sold or tricked by their relatives or agents working for pimps as Commercial Sex Workers. Sex worker in India has immensely ambiguous legal status which leads only to their exploitation. There is no exact plan laid by the government for the rehabilitation of the sex worker. One of the major hurdles that come when it comes to rehabilitate a sex worker is the social stigma attached to it, the society do not accept in the mainstream society. Government should start a plan as soon as possible not only to rehabilitate sex workers but should also look up to the problem of its ambiguous legal status.
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CONCLUSION
Numerous debates and discussions have emanated in literary as well as professional circles in order to address the issue of sex-workers in India. In popular perception its a crime and there is a huge stigma attached to it, which is always subjected to bias value judgment without going circumstances which force them to indulge in such kind of sordid crime, very little has been done to promote the welfare of the people namely the sex workers in this profession either by activism or by administrative means. This perpetual neglect has caused grave problems for the people belonging to this section of the society, hence its time that the perceptions and attitude of the citizenry should change in dealing with issues related to sex-workers. This social evil can be eradicated only if the people like you and me themselves revolt against this and together stand for their life a life with dignity moreover there is need of government to play an important role by considering the feasibility of making the provision of the act more stringent, and punishment for contravention of the act should be serve.
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REFERENCES Bibliography
Andre Beteille, Caste, Class and Power (2nd edition 1996), Oxford University Press. Susmita Guru, Caste based prostitution in Madhya Pradesh, Womens link, July-Sept 2011 K.L. Sharma, Indian social structure and change (2008), Rawat publication Meena Kelkar, Deepti Gangvane, Feminism in Search of an identity, Indian Context, Rawat Publication (2003) Ram Ahuja, Criminology , Rawat publication Ram Ahuja, Society in India (2009), Rawat Publications Veena Das, Handbook of Indian Sociology (2004), Oxford University Press. Yogendra Singh, Modernization of Indian Tradition (2009), Rawat Publications. Yogesh Atal, Changing Indian Society (2006), Rawat publications.
Webliography
http://indialawyers.wordpress.com/2011/07/25/rehabilitation-of-women-in-prostitution%E2%80%93-a-time-for-action/ http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/supreme-court-prostitution/1/145521.html http://www.anti-caste.org/2010/09/devadasi-prostitutes-of-god.html
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