Laws and Regulations Vis-A-VIS Prostitution in India

Objective with which the ITP act was brought into the picture has not been achieved, rather is being misused. The distinction of a sex worker from commercial sexual exploitation victims is of utmost importance. In the garb of protecting minors, these workers have witnessed constant harassment from police via illegal raids. The act which was brought to guard them is itself victimizing them. The hatred of society against them is also one of the reasons for harassment by police. It’s high time; there is a strong need of protecting traffic victims against such harassment. Their consent is not even taken into consideration; the biggest culprit is the customers who are taking their service. Such culprits must be booked for rape, but unfortunately, our judiciary has been continuously giving them clean chit on the ground of no penal provision to punish them. There’s a strong need for amendments in the current legislation to penalize not only traffickers but also such customers. Astonishingly, major solicitors are the customer for which this whole institution has been established, but unfortunately taking service is still not penalised. Round the globe countries have adopted different type of models from criminalising to partial criminalising to decriminalisation. Each model has its own pros and cons; but it is pertinent to note here that laws for them have direct impact on their health, which can’t be ignored while framing laws for them. This book dwells into the regulatory framework India is having, statistics pertaining to them and how the government schemes and NGO act as helping hand in improving the condition of these sex workers.