91% respondents in Delhi want prostitution legalised.

[Guest guest]

Now listen to vote Delhi says

Purnima Sharma

[saturday, October 29, 2005 10:45:48 pm TIMES NEWS NETWORK ]

Delhi spoke, and how. No less than 91% respondents to our poll want

prostitution legalised. Are the authorities listening?

Cramped rooms, dimly-lit staircases and the business of living. Five

days ago, we went to the red light area of the city — GB Road — and

met the sex-workers who are fighting poverty and AIDS while they

live on the fringes of society.

They are demanding legalisation of prostitution, not just for

themselves but also for their children. " Atleast, I will be able to

give my 10-year-old daughter a respectable life, " says Sadamma, a 35-

year-old sex worker who is HIV positive.

We brought the plea of scores like her to the public forum. The

start was made in Mumbai where 84.4 per cent people came out in the

support of legalising prostitution in the 8888 poll.

But it was Delhi where the results were truly staggering. No less

than 91 per cent people want prostitution legalised. The figures in

the 8888 poll say it all... Delhi is hankering for a change.

" Awareness has to be created about the issue. After all, it's a

matter of life and death. This campaign has to be built up with a

vengeance, " says entrepreneur Kalyani Chawla.

And it all begins with the rehabilitation of the sex workers. " To

control AIDS, these women need to be a part of the mainstream

society. Only then can health and welfare schemes for them be

launched, " says anchor Roshni Chopra.

Adman Dilip Cherian emphasises that when prostitution is

formalised " the set of rules should be simple. Also, awareness needs

to be spread about the health and economic problems of these

people. "

Sales manager Jasmeet Choudhary too feels that " sessions on AIDS

awareness and family planning must be organised for them. " Adds

Tejbir Singh, architect, " The most important consequence of this

legalisation will be the effect on the sex workers' children.

They need not be caught in the same cesspool and instead move

towards a better life. " Dancer Kaushalya Reddy, meanwhile, feels

that " the government should first legalise a colony or zone and then

treat prostitution like any other trade. "

Ditto feels student Isha Naravane, who gives her nod for one reason

alone — " so that sex workers can hope for a better life for

themselves and their children, specially vis-a-vis AIDS. "

Why are sex-workers relegated to the background — as if they have no

existence, asks social worker Nafisa Ali. " When it's the men who

carry the virus home to their wives, who're the real culprits? " With

legalisation, " they will atleast get an identity and seek insurance

so that they will have something to fall back upon in their old

age. "

Businessman Shiv Karan Singh also hopes that the move will

bring " some respectability " for these sex workers. Adds student

Vidhi Mehrotra, " Why let women suffer? They need to have a better

life, something they've been deprived of till now. "

People have made their choice emphatically clear – they want things

to change for the better. Are the policy-makers listening?

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