Doing $ex work on one’s own will is not illegal, it cannot be kept under the ambit of crime: Supreme Court

New Delhi. The Supreme Court has given a historic verdict after a thorough analysis of the 70-year-old Immoral Traffic Prevention Act. The Supreme Court said that if any adult does sex work willingly then it cannot be kept under the ambit of crime. The court said that there is no need to arrest and torture such women. The court said that if human trafficking is done for commercial sex and someone is forced to have sex by deception or force, then the Immoral Traffic Act (ITPA) is applicable in such a case. The court said that the main objective of this law is neither to completely eliminate prostitution nor to make it a criminal offense, but its real objective is to curb the commercialization of prostitution.

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The Supreme Court has clearly said that doing sex work on one’s own free will is not illegal. And running a brothel or brothel is illegal. Let us tell you that the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act was made in 1956. There are many sections under this and the crime of running brothels and brothels has been described. Section 3 of this Act states that if a person rents out or allows his place to be used for prostitution, he can be punished with imprisonment of 1 to 3 years and fine.

What is ITPA?

Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice R. Mahadevan’s bench said, its section 4 states that if a person uses the earnings of a sex worker, then it is a crime. This section also applies to the family members of the sex worker. Section 5 states that forcing someone into prostitution by force, coercion or coercion is also a crime. Section 7 states that it is a crime to do sex work within a radius of 200 meters of a public place or any religious place. However, consensual sex is not mentioned anywhere in this law.

Mention of Article 21

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The bench of Justice L Nageswara Rao and Justice BR Gavai, Justice AS Bopanna had also given a big decision in the case of Buddhadev Karmakar vs. Government of Bengal. This case was about the rehabilitation and rights of sex workers. The court had said that just as every person has the right to live life under Article 21 of the Constitution, in the same way sex workers are also citizens of India and should get legal protection.

Investigations by the Law Commission of India have revealed many times that the attitude of the police towards sex workers is not good. It hurts their dignity. The court has said many times that consensual sex work is not a crime. In such a situation, if someone is not violating the other sections of ITPA then he should not be harassed. In this decision, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice R Mahadevan said that if someone is doing sex work of his own free will then there is no need to keep him in custody or send him to a reform home.