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Calcutta high court to decide on crucial plea by sex workers

An association of sex workers wants changes in certain sections under ITPA. It also wants clients of sex workers to be exempted from criminal prosecution.

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The Calcutta high court is set to hear an interesting petition on the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act (ITPA), 1956, next week. The petition calls for abolition of section 4 and amendments to sections 8 and 18 of ITPA. These laws have never been challenged in court.

The petition has been filed by Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (DMSC), an umbrella association of Kolkata-based sex workers.

The association wants changes in these laws since it believes these violate the fundamental rights of citizens. It also wants clients of sex workers to be exempted from criminal prosecution.

Section 4 is full of contradictions, noted criminal and human rights lawyer K Gupta said. “Under this section, those dependent (parents, husband, adult children) on the income of sex workers can be prosecuted if they are aware that the money has been earned through prostitution,” Gupta said. “However, the beneficiary cannot be prosecuted if h/she is unaware of the source of income. But it is quite difficult to establish this distinction and in most cases law-enforcement agencies take advantage of this.”

Besides, this section is self-discriminatory, or contrary to other laws that make it mandatory for a son or daughter to look after their dependent parents. “In a way, this section discourages a sex worker from spending her money to look after her ailing parents or educating her adult son or daughter. Under section 4, people benefiting from the income of sex worker can be sentenced to a maximum of two years in prison,” Gupta said.

Similarly, another self-contradictory clause in ITPA is the one that makes it a criminal offence to hire the services of a sex worker. “Prostitution has not been defined as a criminal offence in our law. If the service is not illegal, then how can clients be criminals? We hope this historical petition will try to seek answers to all such questions,” the lawyer said.

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