Mumbai: Prostitution is not a crime under the law, and every person has full right to choose their profession. The actual purpose of the Prevention of Immoral Prostitution Act is not to eradicate the prostitution business or to punish women in this business. The purpose of the law is to punish the people who force women to enter this profession by all wrong means, clarified Bombay High Court.
Justice Prithviraj Chavan granted the women’s demand and ordered their release from the women’s hostel in Uttar Pradesh where they were stranded. “The woman has the right to live as per her wishes and choose her profession. She can roam anywhere in India”, said judges in the order.
In September 2019, Mumbai police released three prostitutes from Chincholi port in Mumbai’s Malad area. These women aged 20, 22 and 23, were then produced before the Mumbai Magistrate’s Court. The court sent the girls to a women’s hostel and sought a formal report from the probation officer. The magistrate court refused to hand over the custody of the women to their parents and ordered them to be kept in a women’s hostel in Uttar Pradesh. Meanwhile, the probation officer submitted a report in this regard. However, these women demanded court to free them and let them go.
In the report, the official said that girls from certain communities in Kanpur are forced into prostitution. Therefore, it is not in their interest to release them and send them to their homes, explaining that the demand of these women were rejected. The decision of the Magistrate’s Court was upheld by the Sessions Court at Dindoshi. Thereafter these women sought relief in the High Court with the help of lawyer Ashok Sarogi. Justice Prithviraj Chavan heard the case and ruled in favor of these three women.