DECRIMINALIZING SEX WORK IN INDIA-NEED AND SIGNIFICANCE FOR A POST FACTO CLEARANCE

Prostitution has been with us since the dawn of human civilization. Prostitutes no longer exist in a modern democracy. Transition of prostitute to sex worker has a long story of great oppression, sufferings, struggles and resistance. Criminalization, partial criminalization, legalization and decriminalization are the different approaches different countries have adopted to deal with prostitution and its invisible world of human trafficking. Covid-19, its mask culture and social distancing norms have totally ruined sex industry and lives of sex workers all over the world. In this backdrop the investigators aim to contextualize the need and significance of decriminalizing sex work in India.