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Kaustubh Nandan Sinha, Legal Service India

The Devadasis are illegal

A Devadasi is a servant (dasi, feminine) of one or more deity (dev). Goddess Yellamma is the best-known of these deities. She is worshipped mainly in ten districts of north Karnataka, 14 districts of Andhra Pradesh and the adjacent districts of Maharashtra.

By the early 20th century—indeed, much before it—the Devadasi system had degraded into prostitution with a veneer of religious sanction. The Bombay Devadasi Protection Act, 1934, banned this practice. This law was followed by the Madras Devadasis (Prevention of Dedication) Act (later, the Tamil Nadu Devadasis (Prevention of Dedication) Act), the Bombay Protection (Extension) Act, 1957, and the Andhra Pradesh Devadasi (Prohibition of Dedication) Act, 1988. The Government of Karnataka declared the system illegal in 1982.

Is prostitution legal or illegal?

Lawyer Kaustubh Nandan Sinha writes: The Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act, 1956 ("ITPA"), the main statute dealing with sex work in India, does not criminalise prostitution or prostitutes per se, but mostly punishes acts by third parties facilitating prostitution like brothel keeping, living off earnings and procuring, even where sex work is not coerced.

Definitions

Under the

The Suppression of Immoral Traffic Act, 1933

(Act No. Vi Of 1933)

Brothel

According to the Act a brothel is any house, part of a house, room or place in which two or more females carry on prostitution, or in which any girl under the age of eighteen years [unless such girl is the daughter of an inmate of such house or place] is kept with intent that she shall at any age be employed or used for any immoral purpose.

Prostitute

According to the Act:

a prostitute is any female available for the purpose of prostitution [male prostitutes are not covered];

and prostitution is promiscuous sexual inter course for hire, whether in money or kind

Public places

According to the Act:

a public place includes the site of any haat [market place], bazar or mela [fair]], the banks of any river and any docks, jetties and warehouses to which the public have access, [all] public buildings, gardens, monuments, [all] places of public amusement, [all] places of public entertainment and [all] places accessible to the public for drawing water, washing or bathing, or for purposes of recreation.

The word place of public entertainment include any place to which the public is admitted, and where any kind of food or drink is supplied for consumption on the premises for the profit or gain of any person owning or having an interest in or managing such place and includes a refreshment-room, eating-house, coffee-house, liquor-house, boarding-house, lodging-house, hotel, tea-shop, tavern and a wine, beer, spirit, arrack, toddy, ganja, bhang or opium shop.

What is punishable under law?

Brothels

4. (1) Any person who-

(a) keeps or manages or acts or assists in the management of a brothel, or

(b) being the tenant, lessee, occupier, or person in charge of any premises, knowingly permits such premises or any part thereof to be used as a brothel, or

(c) being the lessor or landlord of any premises or the agent of such lessor or landlord, lets the same, or any part thereof, with the knowledge that the same, or any part thereof, is intended to be used as a brothel,

shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.

…(6) In a prosecution under this section if it is found that any premises or part thereof have been used as a brothel it shall be presumed until the contrary is proved that the manager, tenant, lessee, occupier or person in charge of such premises or part knew that the premises or part thereof were being used as a brothel.

Soliciting...

…for purposes of prostitution

7. (1) Any person who in any street or public place or within sight of, and in such manner as to be seen or heard from any street or public place, whether from within any house or building or not-

(a) by words, gestures, or indecent personal exposure attracts or endeavours to attract attention for the purposes of prostitution; or

(b) solicits or molests any person for the purposes of prostitution;

shall be punished with imprisonment of either description which may extend to one month or with fine

Who can lodge a complaint under the Act?

[It is not as if just anyone can lodge a complaint. Only specified persons can…]

(7) No Court shall take cognizance of any offence punishable under this section except on the complaint of-

(a) the Chairman of the 2[ Paurashava, Zilla Board or Union Parishad] within the jurisdiction of which the premises are situated, made in pursuance of a resolution of the 3[ Paurashva, Zilla Board or Union Parishad] as the case may be; or

(b) three or more persons occupying separate premises or holdings and resident in the vicinity of the premises or holdings to which the complaint relates; or

(c) a representative of any society recognized by the Government in this behalf who has been authorized by the society to institute prosecutions under this section.