Policing Sex Work In India: Constitutional Challenges To Raids, Surveillance, And Arbitrary Arrests Under The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956
- IJLLR Journal
- 1 hour ago
- 2 min read
Naina Verma, BA LLB(H), Amity University Lucknow
Introduction
Policing Sex Work in India sits at the intersection of criminal law, morality, public order, and constitutional rights. While sex work itself is not illegal in India, the way it is policed often results in criminalisation, harassment, and rights violations. Policing practices, shaped as much by social stigma as by statutory provisions, frequently blur the line between regulation and punishment, turning legality into a fragile and uncertain protection. Be that as it may, sex work has never been a uniform or static idea. Across human history, different societies have understood and treated it in markedly different ways. In some cultures, sex work became entangled with notions of shame, sin, and moral impurity, marking those engaged in it as social outcasts. In others, particularly within certain indigenous and ancient traditions, sexual labour carried spiritual, ritualistic, or communal meanings that went far beyond mere commercial exchange. These interpretations remind us that prostitution has not always been viewed solely through a lens of moral condemnation.
In the modern world, however, these layered and culturally diverse understandings have largely given way to a more rigid moral consensus. Prostitution is illegal in many jurisdictions and, even where it is not formally criminalised, it is almost universally stigmatised. This stigma does not remain confined to law books or policy debates; it seeps into everyday interactions, shaping how sex workers are seen, spoken to, and treated. As a result, sex work today is less about historical complexity and more about social exclusion, where legality and morality often converge to erase nuance and human experience. But colonial law, such as the Contagious Diseases Acts, and post-colonial law, such as the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 (ITPA), calibrated the process away from cultural acceptance and towards legal and social exclusion. Even while sex work is not illegal, criminalising related activities under ITPA violates the constitutional rights of sex workers, notably under Article 21. The study differentiates between consensual adult sex work and trafficking, the two misunderstood concepts entangled in Indian policy, highlighting the damage such legal inaccuracy causes. Sex work in India is legally recognised, and sex workers are not outside the protection of the Constitution. As citizens, they are entitled to the whole meaning of Article 21, the right to life, not merely as physical survival, but as a life lived with dignity, autonomy, and self-worth. This includes the freedom to engage in activities that express one’s identity and human self, without fear of humiliation, violence, or arbitrary interference by the State.
