SEX WORK AND THE LAW - HIV/AIDS Data Hub

Kotiswaran has conducted a detailed analysis of the effect of formal and informal tenancy
rules on sex work in Sonagachi, West Bengal. Landlords and tenants of premises where
sex is sold expose themselves to potential prosecution under the ITPA. According to
Kotiswaran, informal tenancy rules and norms have evolved in this context:
This puts in place a default preference for resolving contentious issues and disputes
informally as far as possible without invoking the state machinery. This works well under
conditions of de facto decriminalization where the police effectively do not always enforce
the ITPA in Sonagachi, thus creating an atmosphere of apparent abeyance of the criminal
law in the shadow of which internal stakeholders negotiate with each other. 172
She identifies three types of tenancy arrangements in Sonagachi:
In descending order of the security of the sex worker’s tenancy interest, these
arrangements are where (1) the tenancy interest is based on the payment of a
premium for the right to rent (selami); (2) the tenancy interest is based on payment
of rent on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, also referred to colloquially as renting ‘on
contract’; and (3) the tenancy interest is based on the payment of rent per sex work
transaction, locally known as renting on ‘commission.’… 173
The need to pay selami is closely related to a sex worker’s functional independence
in sex work. A sex worker who escapes from being a chhukri quickly realizes that she
cannot afford to pay selami for a secure tenancy and therefore works as an adhiya or
an independent sex worker on contract until she has saved enough money for this
payment. Selami in this sense acts as a barrier to independent sex work. 174
Other studies have confirmed that sex workers who lack independence and economic
power due to their low status in the hierarchy within brothels are highly vulnerable to
HIV. 175
Selami is illegal under the 1956 and 1997 West Bengal Premises Tenancy Acts. Nonetheless,
Kotiswaran describes how sex workers are able to use the threat of legal proceedings to
enforce rights under rent control laws to their advantage. She concludes that:
The elaborate interplay of formal legal rules, informal social norms, and market
structures produces a constrained and complex negotiating space within which
landlords make decisions about evicting sex-worker tenants. 176
Other issues
Sex worker groups argue that they are systematically denied basic entitlements such as
ration cards, 177 admission to colleges, and their children face discrimination in access to
schools, colleges and hostels. 178
A representative of DMSC has described discrimination against sex workers in access to a
range of essential services as follows:
172 Kotiswaran P. (2008), op cit, p.599.
173 Ibid., p.595.
174 Ibid., p.598.
175 Karim R., Selim N., Rashid S., (2008), op cit.
176 Kotiswaran (2008), op cit., p.602.
177 Ration Card is a document in India issued by the government to families living below the poverty line for
the purchase of essential goods from designated shops. It can also be used as an identification document.
178 See e.g., Karnataka Sex Workers Union, http://sexworkersunion.in/?page_id=2
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