Prostitution in India
The tawaifs excelled in and contributed to music, dance (mujra), theatre, and the Urdu literary tradition,[23] and were considered an authority on etiquette.
[27] The culture of the performing art of nautch, an alluring style of popular dance, rose to prominence during the later period of Mughal Empire and the rule of the British East India Company.
She appears through the ages in different incarnations from apsara in divine form to ganika, devdasi, nartika [ordinary dancer], kanchani, tawaif and the nautch girl.
The most notable instances where sex workers offer their services may include situations where these services are accessible under different disguises: Government organisations like MDACS (Maharashtra District AIDS Control Society) have played a very prominent role in generating awareness on HIV/AIDS, through the assistance in providing free literature and organising street campaigns.
[54] In 2007, the Ministry of Women and Child Development reported the presence of over 3 million female sex workers in India, with 35.47 percent of them entering the trade before the age of 18 years.
[59] This was performed by the Centre for Advocacy on Stigma and Marginalisation (CASAM), which is part of SANGRAM,[60] a major NGO that deals with sex workers.
The operation of brothels is officially prohibited (de jure), yet in practice, these establishments are confined to specific areas within urban locales.
The living conditions within these establishments are notably substandard, marked by dilapidated infrastructure, insufficient lighting, malodorous environments, uncleanliness, and an overall lack of sanitation.
As long as it is done individually and voluntarily, a woman (male prostitution is not recognised in any law in India) can use her body in exchange for material benefit.
The laws were intended as a means of limiting and eventually abolishing prostitution in India by gradually criminalising various aspects of sex work.
The court directed the Central Government, States and Union Territories to carry out a survey to determine the number of sex workers in the country willing to be rehabilitated.
However, in 2012 the Central Government made a plea to the Supreme Court arguing that sex workers should not be allowed to pursue their trade under the constitutional "right to live with dignity".
[88] Most of the research done by the development organisation Sanlaap indicates that the majority of sex workers in India work as prostitutes due to lacking resources to support themselves or their children.
Also prevalent in parts of Bengal is the Chukri System, whereby a female is coerced into prostitution to pay off debts, as a form of bonded labour.
In this system, the prostitute generally works without pay for one year or longer to repay a supposed debt to the brothel owner for food, clothes, make-up and living expenses.
In India, the Government's "central sponsored scheme" provides financial or in-kind grants to released bonded labourers and their family members, the report noted, adding over 2,850,000 people have benefited to date.
[91] Sex workers in India find it difficult to access health care and face discrimination, especially in government hospitals, based on their profession, such as being forced to take tests for sexually transmitted infection when they are ill, being refused to be admitted to hospitals without HIV tests, being refused to conduct physical examination before prescribing medication.
Surveys have found that sex workers prefer private health care providers over the government ones where they have some kind of sensitisation training.
A team of two peer workers carried out outreach activities including education, condom promotion and follow-up of STI cases.
The research found that reaching sex workers through prevention programs decreased HIV and syphilis infection rates among young pregnant women tested routinely at government prenatal health clinics.
[95] Women and girls from Azerbaijan, Russia, Uzbekistan, Philippines[96] Arab countries, Japan,[97] the former Soviet Republics and Bangladesh,[98] from other origins have been noted as working as prostitutes in India.
In 2015, ten Thai women were arrested in India on prostitution charges for allegedly running two brothels masquerading as massage parlours.
Thousands of unregulated work placement agencies reportedly lure adults and children under false promises of employment into sex trafficking.
In addition to traditional red light districts, women and children increasingly endure sex trafficking in small hotels, vehicles, huts, and private residences.
Some Nepali, Bangladeshi, Afghan, and Pakistani women and girls are subjected to both labor and sex trafficking in major Indian cities.
[105] Following the 2015 Nepal earthquakes, Nepali women who transit through India are increasingly subjected to trafficking in the Middle East and Africa.
Mrichakatika, a ten-act Sanskrit play, was written by Śhudraka in the 2nd century BC, and tells the story of a famous courtesan, Vasantsena.
Other movies depicting lives of prostitutes and dancing girls are Sharaabi (1984), Ram Teri Ganga Maili (1985), Amar Prem (1972), Mausam (1975) Mandi (1983), Devdas (2002), Chandni Bar (2001), Chameli (2003), Laaga Chunari Mein Daag, Sadak (2007), Dev D (2009), B.A.
Various fictional films have featured the subject of prostitution in India, including Slumdog Millionaire (2008),[107] Chaarfutiya Chhokare (2014), Manoranjan (1974), Soothradharan (2001), Calcutta News (2008), Lakshmi (2014),[108] Love Sonia (2018), Gangubai Kathiawadi (2022) among others.
