New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Centre whether it could legalise prostitution if it wasn't possible to curb it.
"When you say it is the world's oldest profession and when you are not able to curb it by laws, why don't you legalise it? You can then monitor the trade, rehabilitate and provide medical aid to those involved," Justices Dalveer Bhandari and AK Patnaik told Solicitor-General Gopal Subramaniam.
The court said legalising sex trade would be a better option to avoid trafficking of women and pointed out that nowhere in the world was prostitution curbed by punitive measures.
Subramaniam said he would look into the suggestion.
"They (sex workers) have been operating in one way or the other and nowhere in the world have they been able to curb it by legislation. In some cases, they (the trade) is carried out in a sophisticated manner. So, why don't you legalise it?" the judges asked.
The court was hearing a PIL filed by NGOs Bachpan Bachao Andolan and Childline complaining about large-scale child trafficking in the country and seeking directives to contain it.
The apex court wondered why 37 per cent of the country's population continued to languish below the poverty line at a time the GDP rate was said to be growing.
The bench said child trafficking and sex trade were flourishing because of poverty which needed to be tackled.
"We are taking about growing GDP. I do not know what is the development we are all talking about when the number of BPL families is at 37 per cent, which has increased from 30 per cent. Growth of GDP does not mean some four or five families have developed. If this is the state of development, we can't help it," the bench said while posting the case for further hearing to January 5.
Comments
0 comment