Moumala Bhattacharjee, Assistant Professor, Department of Juridical Sciences, JIS University
ABSTRACT
Due to the outbreak of COVID 19, when social distancing and avoiding physical contact became a norm that restricts the “dhanda (a colloquial term meaning 'business') of the sex workers. School of their children turned out of lack of devices like smartphone, internet facility, etc which is needed for online classes. All workers are living in one apartment in claustrophobic cabins as the brothel owners shut the business. Govt. barely thinks about them also doctors are not willing to visit their places. Initially, some of the NGOs started to help them but they also could not foresee the long-term lockdown problem. The majority of the clients of the sex workers comprise migrant labourers but an exodus of migrant workers makes their life more miserable. Some of the sex workers are also migrant workers but they hide their status from their family and there is no way to return. More than 90% of Commercial sex workers are in the street under permanent debt bondage due to this one year and more of the pandemic. This kind of heavy debt bondage becomes intergenerational bondage where sex workers in the future might force their daughters too in sex work for repayment of such debt.
On 29.09.2020 the Supreme Court ordered that the Centre and State should provide dry rations, monetary and hygienic assistance under the National Disaster Management Act, 2005 without insisting on identity documents of the Sex workers but different State Govt, provide dry rations to those only who have ration cards and monetary assistance to those who have bank accounts. Only 30% of the Sex workers can avail this facility as most of the sex workers are coming from trafficking or some other adverse area and they don’t have any identity card. Now in this pandemic situation, they can’t go for a plea to any authority.
With this paper, I would like to revisit the challenges which the sex workers are facing throughout their life, specifically after one year of the pandemic, and what is needed to be done on the side of the Criminal Justice System. In India, Sex Works are not illegal but brothel owners, traffickers, pimps are illegal under The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 (ITPA), in this situation the welfare and protection of this vulnerable group much needed. Sex works are not illegal but criminalizing brothel owners adversely affecting their livelihood. Now Law and Justice can only save them by providing them adequate status, position, alternative ways so that they can live their life humanly. One time judgement and order on the side of the judiciary is not sufficient to mitigate the issue. Follow up procedure addressed by the Govt. and judicial system or order to establishment of Commission or Committee which continuously can handle their matters may give some relief to that group. And it is unforeseeable that how long the Covid waves will go. Will life ever get back to normal for this group?
