By Nita Bhalla. NEW DELHI Reuters - India plans to decriminalize prostitution by treating sex workers as victims and not offenders, and instead going after traffickers, pimps, brothel owners and clients, a government official said on Friday. Hundreds of thousands of women and girls in India are kidnapped, sold, coerced or trafficked for sex in a highly organized yet illicit trade, with many brought in from neighboring countries.
Yet activists have long said the sex workers, who are mostly forced into the trade, are treated as criminals by the law which should instead focus on punishing those behind the trade.
Officials said new amendments to the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act, -- which would no longer penalize sex workers -- are expected to go before the cabinet in the coming days. The proposal would then go before parliament. Prostitutes would also no longer be forced to vacate the property they reside in.
The International Labor Organization says 2. Officials said the new changes included stiffer penalties for those involved in the trade, such as a maximum penalty of life imprisonment for those guilty of trafficking children. Activists said for the first time men frequenting brothels could be punished under the new proposals.
Paying for sex with a prostitute is not an offence unless she is under 18 years old. Lifestyle Updated.
