Annual Report - National Human Rights Commission

Annexure 12
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appropriate assignment to institutions. Lugging together indiscriminately all kinds of persons
who are arrested or convicted (or even rescued) into one large warehouse without individuation
or personalised identification or diagnostic distinction is institutional nescience.” (Krishna, V.K.
Iyer, 1988).
Sections 3, 4, 5, 6 and 9 of ITPA
These sections should be made sessions triable with a minimum punishment of five
years (wherever it is not provided for) and the fine amount should be increased to a minimum of
Rs. 25,000.
Section 4
This section dealing with punishment for living on the earnings from prostitution should have a
proviso to ensure the welfare of the children of the person subjected to commercial sexual
exploitation, so that they are not victimised due to the fact that they are looked after by the
mother from her earnings in the brothel.
Section 5
Dealing with trafficking, this section of ITPA should be made more exhaustive, comprehensive
and explicit to bring in all types of trafficking, and all associates, accomplices, financiers,
transporters, facilitators, promoters and all other exploiters within the ambit of the law. Section
5.1 (b) speaks about the intent of the person. This should be replaced with ‘intent or knowledge’,
so that all these exploiters are brought to book.
Section 7 ITPA: Punishment
Under this section two categories of persons are liable: (a) any person who carries on prostitution
and (b) the person with whom such prostitution is carried on. Therefore, part (b) is the section
that becomes applicable to the ‘customers’ or ‘clientele’. A fact that is borne out of the research
is that trafficking cannot be prevented unless deterrent action is taken against those who ‘demand’
the services. Therefore, the punishment to the ‘customers/clientele’ has to be deterrent. Section
7(1A) prescribes a minimum of seven years imprisonment and fine only if the victim is a child,
and in other cases, as per Section 7(1)(b), the punishment for the ‘customer’ is only three months
imprisonment and no fine at all. This needs to be changed. There should be provision for stringent
punishment and a mandatory fine on the ‘customer’. Moreover, the law should state that the
amount taken as fine should go to the victim. However, the study has shown that many teenagers
and children below 18 years are also part of the clientele. They probably venture into brothels
out of curiosity or lack of proper guidance and control. Such persons need to be counselled,
rather than punished. This calls for integrating the provisions of the JJ Act with the ITPA.
Section 7 ITPA: Enlarging the Scope
This section deals with two types of persons, as stated in the previous paragraph. The scope of
the section should be broadened to include a third category of persons, viz., “and any person
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