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Legalizing Prostitution in India


Legalisation of prostitution in India

Prostitution might be illegal in India, but the business of life goes on. Calling it illegal is superfluous formality and denouncing it as an immoral blotch on society. Recognizing it as a profession will at reduce the real illegalities that come with it, like child prostitution, drug abuse and crime.

Societies in which prostitution is legal have concluded that it is best to regulate a profession, which will never disappear. India should learn from these societies, rather than pretend that prostitution doesn’t exist here. Especially when figures reveal that the business of sex workers takes a dip when it is vacation time for colleges. There are over 2.5 million prostitutes in India and a quarter of them are minors. Child prostitution is major issue faced by our country today. The increasing incidence of the HIV virus, this profession makes the sex workers life more vulnerable. Globally prostitution is legal in Canada, France, Wales, Denmark, Holland, South America, Mexico, Israel, Australia and many other countries.

No government, no matter how hard they have tried have been unsuccessful in abolishing prostitution. Prostitution is a reality and the chances of eliminating it are practically nil. By legalising prostitution, we also legalise the fight against sexually transmitted disease and the AIDS. Just like laws have managed to do with untouchability, legalising prostitution will give dignity to sex workers and save them from living as second grade citizens. A separate hub can be created for it and health of sex workers can be monitored. Legalising will deter police from extorting money from the helpless sex workers who are forced to give a part of their income to policemen to let them live in peace. Legalisation of profession will at least give human face to the profession.

As it is said every coin has two sides. Legalisation too has some shortcomings. Legalisation prostitutions would benefit the facilitator and the pimps, not their victims. In India where women are coerced into the trade and kept in almost like bonded labour, such a move will not benefit them. Commercial sexual exploitation is a form of slavery and slavery can’t be legalised. India should not compare itself with western countries where prostitution enjoys legal status because our social customs are most unlike those in the west. Since abortion is illegal in India, there is no question of prostitution being legalised. Some critics say prostitution wrecks personality and affects marriage relationships. It also affects family life, communicates disease and thus brings social disorganization.

Thus legalisation will give literacy to the sex workers, millions of women who enter into this trade to feed their families will be freed from the clutches of the pimps, brothel owners and cops on the take. Legalising prostitution will see these women, who live life on the edge everywhere, gaining access to medical facilities which can control the spread of AIDS. Timely sex education to sex workers can make them aware of venereal disease attached to with these professions. Employment opportunities for women, who have no alternative than to enter this profession can play wonders. Removal of widow marriage, the social customs that is still followed in most Indian village can help curb prostitution. The time has come for lawmakers to be more serious about this issue. Legalisation is the answer.

Thank you!

Huzefa Mandasaurwala

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