“I was solicited by a policeman but I did not know that he was an official at the time. When I went with him to a hotel, two other policemen joined him and all three of them forced themselves upon me and refused to pay me. They would always demand my services for free and blackmail me, saying they would expose me through the media. It became so unbearable that I left the town and changed my phone number,” says Kamala (name changed), sharing her experiences as a sex worker. A native of Haveri, she now lives in Bangalore.
Ms. Kamala said she was sexually abused by a postman when she was a minor, whom she later married, only to realise that he was already married with children. Abused and beaten, she was depressed and attempted to end her life and was admitted to a hospital. She was later introduced to the sex trade by a friend.
Since then, Ms. Kamala says, she faced torture from anti-social elements and the police. “The three policemen even found my address where I had relocated and tried to harass me further,” she said. She found new hope when she was supported by a non-governmental organisation. With the support of the sex workers’ unions, she now says that she would not put up with such harassment ever again.
