India

Is selling sex criminalised?
Selling sex is legal in private but other activities are criminalised. Soliciting in public, near any public place (defined broadly) or in a notified zone (area declared 'prostitution free' by state) is illegal.
Is buying sex criminalised?
No - although reports that clients can be targeted with public nuisance legislation for 'prostitution' related behaviour in public places
Is organising/managing criminalised?
Yes, brothel keeping is criminalised where two or more sex workers operating. Magistrates can order brothels be closed and evict people living there. Living on the earnings also criminalised.
What other laws are used disproportionately against sex workers?
Yes. Sex workers are charged with public nuisance offences or obscene conduct under the Indian Penal Code - sometimes police choose these charges as easier to prosecute than 'prostitution' offences
Is there mandatory HIV/STI testing?
Yes - persons removed from brothels can be subject to mandatory STI testing. Also if sex workers are placed in state homes or institutions they are also required to undergo mandatory testing
Is there mandatory registration?
No
Is sex work conflated with trafficking and/or people smuggling?
A new anti-trafficking Bill was tabled in India in July 2021 (the Trafficking in Persons (Prevention, Care and Rehabilitation) Bill), which conflates voluntary sex work with trafficking. Sex worker activitsts in India are concerned that this will create more criminalisation of sex work. It is unclear if/when this Bill will pass into law.
Is sex work recognised as work?
No
Is sex work decriminalised with limited regulation?
No
Sources/further reading
UNDP et al (2012) Sex Work and the Law in Asia and the Pacific: Laws, HIV and human rights in the context of sex work, available at http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/hivaids/English/HIV-2012-S… Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act 1956 - http://www.protectionproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/India_Acts_… https://www.news18.com/news/india/no-case-against-prostitutes-customer-… Draft Trafficking in Persons (Prevention, Care and Rehabilitation Bill) 2021, available at https://wcd.nic.in/sites/default/files/DRAFT%20TRAFFICKING%20IN%20PERSO… What's Wrong with India's new anti-trafficking Bill, https://www.freedomunited.org/news/whats-wrong-with-indias-new-anti-tra… Why Sex Workers' Organisations Aren't Pleased with the Draft Anti-Trafficking Bill, https://thewire.in/rights/draft-anti-trafficking-bill-sex-workers
Extra info
A new anti-trafficking Bill was tabled in India in July 2021 (the Trafficking in Persons (Prevention, Care and Rehabilitation) Bill), which conflates voluntary sex work with trafficking. Sex worker activitsts in India are concerned that this will create more criminalisation of sex work. It is unclear if/when this Bill will pass into law.
Contact
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