Protesting amendments to the anti-prostitution law

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Protesting amendments to the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, (ITPA), 1956

Members are encouraged to support the National Network of Sex Workers in their

protest against the lack of transparent consultations and proposed amendments to

the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, (ITPA). Sex workers do not support the

proposed amendments, in their present form. Following is the protest letter sent

to the Secretary, Department of Women and Child Development (DWCD), Ministry of

Human Resource Development, Government of

India. Similar letters may be sent to secy.wcd@...

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7th December 2005

Reva Nayyar

Secretary, Department of Women and Child Development (DWCD)

Ministry of Human Resource Development

Government of India, Room No. 601, 6th Floor, Shastri Bhavan, A wing

New Delhi

Re: Proposed amendments to the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, (ITPA), 1956

Dear Ms. Nayyar,

Thank you for giving us an opportunity yesterday morning to express some of our

concerns regarding the proposed amendments to the ITPA. Following the

headlines/front page story reported in today’s Hindustan Times (HT) titled “Sex

workers get a break”, we tried to contact you this morning and managed to get

through only once.

Thereafter, we spoke to Mr. R.K Ojha of the DWCD, who suggested that we write to

you. The HT story claims that that sex workers and NGOs support the DWCD’s

proposal to amend the ITPA. However, we would like to submit the following:

I. Lack of consultations with sex workers

According to you, the DWCD had put up the proposed amendments for comments and

consultations for quite some time. Though we appreciate the fact that some

consultations were held, the same have not been effective from the point of view

of sex workers and organizations working on HIV/AIDS, some of which are

signatories to this letter.

(a)Though the proposed amendments have been posted on DWCD‘s website

http://wcd.nic.in) for some months, we would like to point out that these differ

significantly from the amendments scheduled to be placed before the Cabinet,

which, Mr. Anand Grover, Advocate and Project Director of the Lawyers Collective

HIV/AIDS Unit, was allowed to see yesterday. In particular, the draft amendments

on the website do not include any reference to criminalisation of clients of sex

workers.

(b)Ms. Tripti Tandon, of the Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS Unit had spoken to Mr.

Ojha over the phone after seeing an article reported in the Times of India dated

2nd October 2005 that indicated that the DWCD was considering provisions to

punish clients of sex workers under the ITPA amendments. Mr. Ojha did not

confirm the contents of the news report stating that the same were not based on

any official statement from the Department.

©We would like to point out that the text of the final amendments,

which the DWCD is expected to place before the Cabinet for approval, have not

been made available to the public. The question of consulting the community and

inviting comments therefore does not arise.

(d)It was not until yesterday afternoon when Mr. Ojha shared the proposed

amendments at the request of Mr. Anand Grover that we learnt what the final

amendments are.

(e) Though Dr. Protim Ray, from Durbar Mahila Samanvay Committee (DMSC), a sex

workers’ collective based in Kolkata did attend a meeting organized by the DWCD

in 1st September 2005 in New Delhi, he has informed us that the only issue

discussed was the nature of trafficking in sex work and responses to counter the

same including role of self regulatory bodies set up by sex workers in

Sonagachi, Kolkata. Yesterday, Mr. Ojha refused to share the minutes of the said

consultation with us, thereby creating a doubt over the

nature of consultations held on the ITPA amendments

(f) We fail to understand why the final amendments are not being

uploaded on the DWCD website. Clearly, without access to the final text, sex

workers and the public alike will remain in the dark about the nature of legal

changes being introduced in sex work.

Clearly then, sex workers’ have not had an opportunity to examine and

comment on the proposed ITPA amendments.

II. Sex workers do not support the proposed amendments, in their present form

At our meeting yesterday, you were of the view that sex workers should support

the proposed amendments because two of the existing provisions that penalise sex

workers, namely, Section 8 (punishment for soliciting) and Section 20 (removal

of prostitute on orders of Magistrate) are being deleted. According to you, sex

workers stand to gain significantly from the proposed amendments. This is what

is reported in today’s HT story as well.

We, the undersigned, would have agreed with you, were it not for the fact that

the present amendments propose to punish clients of sex workers under Section 5

C. Additionally, Sections 14, 15 and 16, that vest wide powers with the police

to search, raid and supposedly ‘rescue’ sex workers are retained. Furthermore,

the rank of police officers authorized to conduct raids and arrest is being

lowered under Section 13 (2), which we fear will increase harassment that we

face at the hands of the law enforcement officials.

In light of the above, members of the National Network of Sex Workers have come

to a unanimous conclusion that we are not in favour of the proposed ITPA

amendments as they stand.

We would like to have a meeting with you to share our points of view before the

ITPA amendments are sent to the Cabinet for approval.

Thank you

National Network of Sex Workers

Durbar Mahila Samanvay Committee (DMSC), Kolkata

Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS Unit

SANGRAM, Sangli

VAMP, Maharashtra & Karnataka

SANGAMA, Bangalore, Karnataka

WINS, Andhra Pradesh

Sex Workers Forum Kerala

Rainbow Planet

Godavari Mahila Sangha, Andhra Pradesh

CHANGES, Andhra Pradesh

VRMSS, Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh

Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS Unit

1st Floor, 63/2, Masjid Road,

Jangpura, New Delhi - 110 014

Phone - 011 - 2437 7101, 2437 7102, 2437 2237

Fax - 011 - 2437 2236

e-mail - aidslaw1@...