In Brazil, sex work is legal, although pimping is punishable. Similarly, it is legal to work in the sex industry in Colombia, although pimping is not. Interestingly, prostitution in India is not illegal per se. However, under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), several prostitution-related activities are punishable – pimping, renting property for brothel operations, etc. In 1956, the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act emphasized that sex workers can practice their profession, but anyone who earns money from prostitution must be punished. This also includes procurement. abduction or inducement of a person into prostitution; A decision important enough to bring sex trafficking under control. In addition, the law stipulates that to legally participate in prostitution, sex workers must maintain a distance of at least 200 meters from any public place, preferably in an isolated area where there are no public facilities in sight. In other words, sex work should be done in secret, out of sight of the wider and “normal” society. Austria is another country that has made prostitution completely legal. Prostitutes must register, undergo regular health checks, be 19 years of age or older, and pay taxes.

Sex work in India is mainly regulated by the Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act 1956 (ITPA), but the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Juvenile Courts Act also contain provisions relating to prostitution and human trafficking in India, according to an article published by Columbia University`s Institute for the Study of Human Rights (ISHR). Across Europe, countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, France and Greece have legalized the profession. The law also stipulates that anyone earning income from prostitution will be punished. In addition, it is illegal to procure, incite or kidnap a person for the purpose of prostitution. On May 19, India`s Supreme Court made headlines with instructions on the recognition of prostitution as a profession, stressing that sex workers, like all other professionals, are entitled to dignity and constitutional rights. Prostitution (or sex work), a taboo subject, was recently introduced into parlor conversations by the Bollywood film Gangubai Kathiawadi (directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, based on the life of Gangubai Harjivandas, an acclaimed social activist from Kamatipura). The question the film successfully raised was: why isn`t sex work considered another type of work? Parts of Bengal are also prevalent in the chukri system, in which a woman is forced into prostitution to pay off her debts as a form of debt bondage. In this system, the prostitute usually works for a year or more without pay off a supposed debt to the brothel owner for food, clothing, makeup, and living expenses. In India, the “central government-funded program” provides financial or in-kind benefits to laid-off bonded labourers and their family members, the report said, adding that more than 2,850,000 people have benefited so far. Nearly 5,000 prosecutions have been registered under the Bonded Labour System Abolition Act 1976.

Young infants or adolescents who are forced into prostitution do so for a variety of reasons. The Indian Penal Code of 1860 makes it illegal to engage in child prostitution, including the buying and selling of minors for prostitution. The sale of a minor for the purpose of prostitution is punishable by imprisonment for at least ten years under article 372 of the Code. The purchase of a minor for the purpose of prostitution is punishable by ten years` imprisonment under article 373 of the Code. The explanations of these parts mention only the profession of young girls, not boys. Prostitution is a problem whose laws are not yet fully developed. She is silent on male prostitution and bisexual prostitution. The rights of sex workers have no place in any law. In 2009, the Supreme Court ruled that prostitution should be legalized and convened a panel to consider a change in the law. [47] In 2011, the Supreme Court ruled that the “right to live in dignity” is a constitutional right and issued an order to “create conditions conducive to sex workers working with dignity.” The court ordered the central government, states and union territories to conduct an investigation to determine how many sex workers in the country want to be rehabilitated. Authorities must respect this constitutional protection when dealing with trafficking cases, the Supreme Court order says.

Various fiction films have dealt with the subject of prostitution in India, including Slumdog Millionaire (2008),[79] Chaarfutiya Chhokare (2014), Manoranjan (1974), Soothradharan (2001), Calcutta News (2008), Lakshmi (2014),[80] among others. Forced prostitution is where young children or adolescents are forced into prostitution due to many factors. The Indian Penal Code of 1860 punishes child prostitution, i.e. the sale and purchase of minors for the purpose of prostitution. Article 372 of the Code provides for a prison sentence of at least ten years for anyone who sells a minor for prostitution. Article 373 of the Code provides for a ten-year prison sentence for the purchase of a minor for prostitution. The explanatory notes to these sections relate only to trafficking in underage girls and not boys. The law that regulates the issue of prostitution in India is the Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act 1956. The constitutionality of this law was challenged in the case of State of Uttar Pradesh v. Kaushalya.[2] In this case, a number of prostitutes had to be removed from their homes to maintain decency in the city of Kanpur.

The Allahabad High Court of Justice held that section 20 of the Act restricted the defendant`s fundamental rights under sections 14 and 19(1)(d) and (e) of the Constitution. The law was found to be constitutionally valid because there was an understandable difference between a prostitute and a person who caused harassment. The law is also consistent with the objective pursued, namely the maintenance of order and decency in society. The Supreme Court said in its order that sex workers should not be arrested, punished or harassed by raids on brothels because voluntary sex work is not illegal and only the operation of the brothel is illegal. In addition, she asked the police not to discriminate against sex workers and called for awareness among sex workers. This clearly casts doubt on the legality of the profession of prostitution. Nautch`s performing arts culture, an alluring style of folk dance, became known in the later period of the Mughal Empire and the reign of the British East India Company. During the Company`s reign (and after the Indian Rebellion of 1857 the direct administration of the British Crown), British military elements established and maintained brothels on the Indian subcontinent.[25] The prostitutes who worked in these brothels were recruited from rural Indian families and paid directly by the British authorities. The red-light districts of cities like Mumbai were developing at that time. [26] The governments of many Indian princely states had regulated prostitution in India before the 1860s.

The British Raj enacted the Cantonment Act of 1864 to regulate prostitution in colonial India in order to accept a necessary evil. [27] The cantonment laws regulated and structured prostitution at British military bases, which provided for about twelve to fifteen Indian women in brothels called Chaklas for each regiment of a thousand British soldiers. They were authorized by military officials and were only allowed to ally with soldiers. [28] In the 19th and early 20th centuries. In the nineteenth century, thousands of women and girls from continental Europe and Japan were trafficked to British India, where they worked as prostitutes for British soldiers and indigenous Indian men. [29] [30] [31] Brothels are illegal de jure, but in practice limited to certain areas of a particular city. Although the profession has no official approval, little effort is made to eradicate or hinder it. Although the legality of sex work in India is vague, other countries around the world have legalized the profession and granted equal rights and protection to sex workers.

The abolition of prostitution is a gigantic task, because it is a centuries-old practice that has existed for too long. Although it has been described as illegal, it still continues. This could be due to a lack of law enforcement or an inability to restrict this practice. To combat this problem, the legalization of prostitution could be decided, because abolition seems to be a daydream. Private prostitution is not illegal in India, but encouraging it, doing it publicly and owning a brothel is illegal. Despite the illegality of public prostitution, an India Today article noted that law enforcement is lax as places like GB Road are operating. What are the gaps in prostitution laws? A prostitute is also entitled to the protection of the right to life under article 21. In Budhadev Karmaskar v.

State of West Bengal, this has been explained. It has been argued that because sex workers have the right to live, no one has the right to attack or kill them. The decision also drew attention to the plight of sex workers and expressed sympathy for the fact that these women are forced into prostitution not out of passion, but because of extreme poverty. It also called on the central and state governments to open rehabilitation centres and provide technical and vocational training, such as sewing, to help these women find alternative sources of income. This isolation affects other sex workers and casts doubt on the legality of their profession. In fact, mere legal status for prostitution is not enough to ensure that sex workers are not relegated to the margins of society.