Pam Rajput committee report, recommending decriminalising of sex work, to be in public domain soon.
While the ministry of women and child development (MWCD) has put in efforts to curb trafficking by working on a comprehensive legislation, a high-level government panel has asked the ministry to decriminalise sex work as part of its efforts.
The panel, chaired by Pam Rajput, founder director of the Center for Women's Studies in Punjab University, was formed during the UPA government in February, 2012, to have an exhaustive look at the status of women since 1989. It had 14 members, with the secretary of the WCD ministry being the member secretary.
The committee submitted its report, Status of Women, to the ministry in 2015, and the report will soon make its way into the public domain, say officials in the ministry.
"We put forward the recommendation that commercial sex work should not be criminalised. This will strengthen the efforts to curb trafficking," said Rajput. The panel recommends stringent punishment for traffickers. The new anti-trafficking law recommends that traffickers be granted 14 years' minimum imprisonment and a maximum of life imprisonment.
Currently, sex workers are punishable under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956, and prostitution is illegal. While there are no current estimates on how many sex workers operate in India, a 2007 MWCD report said that there are 3 million sex workers, with 35.4% below the age of 18.
A Supreme Court panel, formed after a public interest litigation (PIL) was filed in 2010 for the rehabilitation of sex workers, had recommended the decriminalisation of sex work. The panel, headed by senior counsel Pradip Ghosh, suggested in February this year that rehabilitated workers who wanted to start a new life must be provided help by the government. It also recommended that imprisonment rules be amended to ensure that the sex workers' family is not put behind bars if they did not coerce her into the trade.
Rajput's report also stresses on a national policy on women. "We strongly recommend a comprehensive national action policy to end violence against women. There should be a consolidated policy and action plan that stresses on accountability and monetary mechanisms," said Rajput.
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