Delhi sex workers evicited from G.B. Road red light district

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Their 'homes' gone, Delhi sex workers protest

Sunday October 31 2004 00:00 IST

IANS

NEW DELHI: Their lives were pathetic enough, but now around 150 sex

workers have been forced to move into the already cramped brothels

nearby with their children after their own were locked up by police.

It all started when police in September began conducting raids in the

G.B. Road red light district in central Delhi to catch brothel-owners

accused of employing minors in the flesh trade.

While many were arrested, the raids also ended up sealing about half a

dozen of the 106 brothels, leaving around 150 odd sex workers stranded.

Sex worker Neetu told IANS: " The government has rehabilitation

policies for the poor and the socially backward but there is nothing

for sex workers who belong to neglected and marginalized sections of

society. "

Since the raids, many have shifted to neighbouring brothels that were

already cramped.

Not surprisingly, they have taken to the streets. Just seven

kilometres away from the presidential palace, the dingy alleys of G.B.

Road have turned noisy of late as the sex workers protest their plight.

Earlier they could be seen craning their necks from tiny windows,

waving at visitors or shouting at people on the road. Now many of them

stand on the roads, holding anti-government placards and shouting slogans.

" Except for supplying condoms, the government had done nothing for sex

workers. Now, to make matters worse, it is making us homeless by

sealing brothels, " said a sex worker.

Over 4,000 sex workers live in the G.B. Road area in central Delhi.

Dark staircases in three- and four-storey buildings lead visitors to

bright halls where sex workers can be found sitting on small benches.

Sitting in a room on the top floor of brothel number 65, sex worker

Reena says: " This room has been home to 20 women for the past two

weeks because the brothel where they worked earlier has been sealed. "

The room is as small as a 100-sq.ft bathroom in an average Delhi flat

and is located in one of the darkest corners of the brothel.

The closure of brothels has severely affected women in the flesh trade

who have school-going children or newborn babies. They now live in

cramped, unhygienic conditions.

Ironically, the sex workers say they support the government's decision

to arrest brothel owners who employ minors. But they are against the

sealing of brothels, their only means of earning a living.

Sex worker Shabina said: " We have been reduced to being homeless and

are being forced to live in highly unhygienic conditions because

police have sealed off the brothels where we were staying.

" This is being done even though we ourselves are against minor girls

being employed for prostitution. "

Police, however, shrug off responsibility for rehabilitation.

" Six brothels were closed and their owners arrested last month after a

court order, " said a police officer.

" There is little that police can do. It is for the government or NGOs

to work out rehabilitation for sex workers. "

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