Karnataka - Mysore   

Sex workers condemn proposed amendment to ITPA Act

— PHOTO: M.A. SRIRAM

making a plea: Activists of Ashodaya Samithi and sex workers taking out a rally in Mysore on Tuesday.

MYSORE: Sex workers took out a rally here on Tuesday to condemn the proposed amendment to the Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Amendment (ITPA) Act, 2008, that seek to penalise their clients.

More than 300 sex workers from Mysore and Mandya took out the procession under the aegis of Ashodaya Samithi, a voluntary organisation, to denounce the proposed amendments which they said would deny sex workers their right to livelihood.

They marched from the samithi office on Veene Sheshanna Road in K.R. Mohalla, up to Kote Anjaneya Swamy Temple near the north Gate of Mysore Palace through K R Circle.

It was taken out in connection with the National Day of Action against ITPA Amendments observed across the country.

Ashodaya Samithi, which represents over 3,200 sex workers in Mysore and Mandya, had been making efforts for over a year to persuade the Department of Women and Child Development, New Delhi, change its stance on the proposed amendments.

“We are disappointed with the stand taken by the department, and the approval given to it by the Group of Ministers”, said Rathnamma, samithi president. “If people are arrested for seeking our services, is it not an indirect way of denying us our means of livelihood and pushing us into greater poverty and destitution?” she asked.

“We apprehend that the proposed changes to the ITPA Bill, particularly the new sections on prostitution and commercial sexual exploitation viz. Sections 2 (f), 2 (j), 5A and F(c) that seek to penalise clients will end up criminalising consensual adult sex work. This will not only undermine HIV prevention efforts among sex workers and the general public, but also obstruct efforts to empower the community”, said Bhagyalakshmi, secretary of the samithi.

“Hounded by goonda elements and constantly being harassed by the police, sex workers are in danger of getting marginalised, and becoming more vulnerable to HIV and AIDS. A large part of their earnings goes to the police and goonda elements, and towards court fines”, a samithi member said. The samithi members faulted the ITPA for equating voluntary adult sex work with trafficking.

Seshana Reza Paul, advisor to the samithi, has sought the government’s partnership in its fight against trafficking of women and minors.

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