Swati Maliwal: Ray of hope for bonded ‘queens’ of night

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By Taha Amin Mazumder, IndiaTomorrow.net,
New Delhi, 07 Aug 2015: Glossy lipsticks, cheap perfumes, revealing clothes and seductive smiles of women huddled in a narrow street are some images that make an immediate impression of a flamboyant red light area – where prostitutes serve as the eternal objects of desire. While it’s a fact that the human civilisation has kept prostitutes as a means for the gratification of lust, there are still a few to have the guts to stand against the society, raising their voices to eradicate the blot.

One of these braves is Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chairperson Swati Maliwal whose comment equating prostitution to “rape” and calling it a “blot” on the society may finally bring smiles on the millions of suffering faces forced into prostitution.

Prostitution is rape, blot on society; it needs to be eradicated
Speaking at a National Consultation on Human Trafficking on Indo-Nepal Border; Post Earthquake Perspective organised by an NGO Public Advocacy Initiatives for Rights and Values in India (PAIRVI), Maliwal said that prostitution is equal to rape and a blot on the society and needs to be eradicated with a stronger response by the state. Referring to the number of condoms being reportedly distributed every month in Delhi’s red light area of GB Road, Mrs. Maliwal said, “Six lakh condoms means six lakh rapes we are allowing in Delhi.”

“The figure of rapes could be much more as the cases of minor girls are not reported. Strangely, I found that it is being accepted by people in a way. I have spoken to a lot of people about it after visiting GB Road, and they said if you get the red light area closed, rapes will increase. I condemn such mindset,” she said.

Interestingly, Maliwal’s comment came close on the heels of a controversy recently created by international Human Rights watchdog Amnesty International when it said prostitution is a matter of free choice and a human right, a stance often propagated by the multibillion-dollar commercial sex industry. Proponents of the legalization of sex-trade are of the view that sex work is compatible with gender equality and nondiscrimination, a garb to help the money machines called brothels.

One of the first advocates of the legalisation of sex-workers in India, the Kolkata-based Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee, describes one of its principles as “Recognition of sex work as an occupation and preserve and protect their occupational and human rights.” As the controversy intensifies and eyebrows are raised when NGOs like Durbar want to legalise prostitution, conscientious officials like Swati Maliwal stand up with strong conviction advocating state action as a necessary means to eradicate prostitution, hitting hard the tycoons sitting behind running brothels like GB Road. In this backdrop, IndiaTomorrow.net tried to elicit responses from concerned NGOs and people.

Yes, prostitution is rape; Society should end it: Shakti Vahini
Dinbandhu Vats, a programme coordinator of PAIRVI, the NGO on whose platform Maliwal equated prostitution to rape, said he does not think prostitution to be a case of rape but considers it a compulsion for most women who are either lured to large cities on the pretext of jobs. On prostitution being a blot on the society, Vats said, “I think it’s the society which makes it a compulsion for the women, and most of whom are forced to become sex workers. I don’t think they have much freedom either.”

Rishi Kant, a social activist associated with the renowned NGO Shakti Vahini and is responsible for rescuing a large number of women from prostitution, said, “Yes, I do consider prostitution rape. We strive for checking human trafficking, especially of women and children, and I personally know cases where sex workers had to cater 40 customers in a day. What else can you call it but rape? Of course she would not be willing to have sex with 40 men in a day. If she has to sleep so many times with multiple males, she may get AIDS too.”

Kant thinks it’s the society which should take proactive steps to ensure the end of prostitution. “Try to understand what Mrs. Maliwal wants. She wants to rescue these girls from the rackets of prostitution and rehabilitate them,” Rishi Kant explained. Replying to the question why the governments does not shut down places like GB Road, the Shakti Vahini activist said, “The issue is rehabilitation. There are more than 4,000 women in GB Road. If you shut down the brothels overnight, how are you going to accommodate or rehabilitate these 4,000 women at one go? Delhi does not have the matching number of shelter homes.”

Human trafficking and prostitution
A Tehelka report of 01 November 2008, while depicting the plight of RITA KAMBDE, who had been kidnapped from her home in Latur, Maharashtra, in 1997 and sold for Rs 3,000 to a brothel on GB Road, Delhi’s red-light locality, mentions, “When Rita finally agreed, she was made to sleep with 20 to 30 customers a day and with 50 customers on Sundays.”

When asked whether human trafficking is related to prostitution, Rishi Kant said, “Relation between trafficking and prostitution is integral. Pimps lure young girls belonging to poor families from remote areas of the country on the pretext of jobs in big cities like Delhi. These girls or their families have no idea that they will eventually be sold to brothel keepers.”

According to a report by the Ministry for Women and Child Development, India has nearly 2.5 million prostitutes in nearly 300,000 brothels in 1,100 red-light areas across the country. About 90% or more of these trafficked women and children are reportedly estimated as in-country and 5 to 10% to cross-border trafficking, reported mainly from Bangladesh and Nepal. The routes of trafficking do not exclude Europe and specifically to UK and United States. Around 1.2 million children are involved in prostitution in India. A Shakti Vahini portal on prostitution regularly updates media coverage in relation to these. In this connection, an Indian Express headline reads, “Minor among eight girls rescued from an ‘almirah’ in brothel.”

Vicious cycle of Nayikas

“Even sex workers themselves work as pimps sometimes. These ‘Nayikas,’ an informal term for the pimp prostitutes, after 10-15 years of working, lure other young girls from their locality to secure some commissions out of the incomes of these fresh faces. This is a vicious cycle related to prostitution, and the society is yet to combat it,” Rishi Kant said with regrets.

“The rosy days of these Nayikas are usually over once they age, and then it becomes a real worry for them how to make both ends meet. The society doesn’t accept them anymore. So the only resort for them lies in luring others into the profession,” the activist analyses further.

In this melancholic picture, surfaces Swati Maliwal, who actually wages a war against the barons of brothels when she argues prostitution is a “blot” on the society. Maliwal has said that after taking charge as the Chairperson of DCW, she has taken a pledge to resolve the problems of the residents of G B Road area over the next three years. She said the upcoming Trafficking Committee of DCW will work together with the Centre, state and NGOs on the issues related to trafficking.

Finally when a woman takes up the issue, a brighter ray of hope can be seen on the horizon, and maybe Delhi will soon prove to be a better home for the more than 4,000 prostitutes rehabilitated from its own ghetto called GB Road.

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