The rights of commercial sex workers in India: a critical analysis of the legislative and judicial trends

Prostitution is seen as a revile to social orders. It is an occupation that is carried out to earn money by trading sexual intercourse hence considered immoral. People who indulge in it do not get the life of dignity and respect as a human must get by virtue of basic human rights. Although the majority view is that women who enter the sex trade are forced or trapped in the industry, some of them enter the trade willfully for economic and social reasons. Neither does our Constitution considers this trade illegal and nor does any of the law in force in India say that it is prohibited. Various incidents attached to it are held illegal by the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act, 1956. The present paper critically analyses the legislative and judicial trends of the matter at hand and the status of the rights of the commercial sex workers in India.