Mumbai: Supplanting her father as a beacon of hope for the marginalised women of Kamathipura, Congress MP Priya Dutt asserted her pro-legalisation stance regarding prostitution.
Also, she said, the sex workers of the area, currently facing dislocation, should be rehabilitated elsewhere in the city.
She even plans to meet Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan to push for the cause.
After MiD DAY's report ('No Sex at Kamathipura', January 18) on how adherents of the world's oldest profession are being forced to evacuate on account of a proposed redevelopment of the area, Priya has been unsettled.
Distressed
The 44-year-old MP from Mumbai's North-Central constituency said she is distressed that neither builders, nor the government, nor their landlords, have any space to reintegrate the women.
Legitimising the trade, Priya thinks, will give the sex workers a minimal amount of recognition, so they can lead a life where the prospect of being homeless does not stare them in the face.
"Prostitution should be legalised here on the lines of other countries. If the trade is regularised, sex workers will be secure through registration and licences. They will have documents to prove their identity and will not be evicted," Priya said, adding, "I will meet the CM and tell him that these women need to be rehabilitated."
The first thing she did after reading about the impending displacement was call Dr Ishwar Gilada. As the honorary secretary of People's Health Organisation, India a non-profit trust for controlling child prostitution and HIV/AIDS Gilada has been working with sex workers.
Ensconcing Priya's stand on the question, he said, "The best way out of the problem is to legalise prostitution. A licence should be issued to adults wanting to get into this business. If sex workers are evicted haphazardly, they would scatter to other parts of the city."
Praise for Priya
In turn, the women, in the absence of a more vocal and public authority to give their torment a voice, appreciate Priya's gesture, even though nothing concrete can be promised to them yet.
Sanjay Shinde, head of Kamathipura Bahchao Samiti, an association fighting for the rights of prostitutes, said, "Any form of help will make the women strong, and add weight to their cause.
The sex workers expected some help from the Dutt family, and now that Priya has taken up where her father left off, we are sure our movement will not go unnoticed."
Said Gilada, "Priya used to come here often with her father. Now whenever we have a problem, she is willing to help us. She is part of the movement," he said.
Father's legacy
Priya's basic connect with the city's oldest prostitution den is an inheritance from her father, the late actor-turned-politician Sunil Dutt. "My father used to visit the place every Raksha Bandhan.
I myself have worked on a script on child prostitution. Nobody likes to sell their body, but here they are forced to do it for a living," Priya said.
Dutt's memory is vivid in Kamathipura for his unflagging compassion for the women. "Had he been alive, we would have been given justice," said a sex worker.
"He was like a messiah for these sex workers. He'd come to Kamathipura to educate the girls on the need to keep themselves and their kids safe from HIV, so their children can lead a healthy life," said Gilada.
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