Brothels in fear of act reforms
Posted by barunroy on June 2, 2008
Siliguri, June 1: Members of the Durbar Mahila Samanway Committee (DMSC), comprising mainly of sex workers, apprehend that some of the proposed amendments to the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act 1956 may constrict their livelihood. [Inset: The seminar in progress. Picture by Kundan Yolmo]
They said the proposed law banning renting out premises for “sex work” would “ultimately lead to the profession to go underground”.
The sex workers were at a legal awareness programme organised by the Darjeeling District Legal Aid Forum in collaboration with the DMSC at a school auditorium near Khalpara,
According to Section 3(1) of the proposed amendment, if any house owner is caught renting out his or her premises for sex work, the first offence would lead to three years in jail and a fine of up to Rs 10,000. For a second offence, the house owner could be jailed for seven years with a fine of up to Rs 2 lakh.
“If this law applies to traditional brothels, then the trade will become clandestine and intervention programmes like the prevention of AIDS will become very difficult, let alone the hundreds of women in the profession who will starve to death,” said Roma Debnath, a DMSC central committee member from Calcutta.
Another member feared that with the amendment allowing government to assign any law enforcer it deemed fit to carry out raids in brothels in the name of curbing immoral traffic, “the number of such persons seeking protection money would increase”. As of now, only police personnel trained in the provisions of the act carry out the raids.
The DMSC said it had written to MPs so that these provisions of the proposed amendment could be reviewed during the monsoon session of Parliament. They have also sought the MPs’ intervention in getting recognition for the self-regulatory board that the DMSC set up some years ago to prevent the entry of minors and those unwilling.
“Today’s programme was organised to build awareness on the act. It was addressed by three lawyers and a couple of sociologists,” said Amit Sarkar, honourary general secretary of the legal aid forum. [The Telegraph]
