Sex and the city centre

Sex work is flourishing under conditions that are extremely unsafe

For 27-year-old Salma Begum, Majestic is a place full of terrible memories, yet also the source of her daily bread and butter.

When she was 13, Salma left her hometown of Mangalore and came to Bangalore with the person she was in love with. Life seemed good until she discovered she was six months pregnant. Her partner, on hearing this, took her to the city bus-stand for dinner. He left her at the table, promising to return in 15 minutes. Little did she know her wait would last much longer.

Making ends meet

She stayed in the bus-stand for a few weeks, begging. Then, she decided to return to her house in Mangalore, where she was definitely not welcome.

So, she returned to the only other place she knew. Back at the bus-stand, she continued her life of begging. “I delivered my son in the toilet at the bus-stand, where some government officials saw me and rushed me to hospital.”

With another person to take care of now, making ends meet became more difficult. She met a sex worker who told her that she could make about Rs. 300 a day if she got into the business. And so, eight years ago, she became a sex worker to take care of her son, she explained. “Around the bus-stand in Gandhinagar is the hub of the profession as that is where there are a huge number of potential clients,” she said.

Preferred location

Latha, another sex worker said, “Although there are sex workers in areas such as M.G. Road, K.R. Puram and Koramangala, we prefer to work in Gandhinagar as we are sure of our clientele.”

The area being a bustling business district with shopping complexes and movie theatres, there are several people who simply roam around and are potential clients, they explained. Being close to the railway station and bus stand also means more travellers. These clients include junior artists, engineers, doctors, businessman and lawyers.

Salma added that the presence of several lodges around the area also makes it a suitable place for their work.

Living on the edge

Geetha M., secretary of the Sadana Mahila Sabha said, “Sex workers have been working in this area ever since the British rule.”

However, cases of violence against sex workers were increasing by the day, she said. Apart from discrimination that they face in society, there are several raids that take place, making life difficult for them, an association of sex workers said at a recent meeting.

One of the sex worker added, “Everybody knows that sex work is a flourishing profession in Bangalore, but they won’t acknowledge it openly so we can be exploited in our illegal status.”

Geetha said that as sex work is considered illegal, conditions are extremely unsafe for those in the profession. “We want sex work to be decriminalised. This profession will continue to flourish even if they ban it. If it is decriminalised, conditions will be safer,” she said.