Prostitution in Kolkata (formerlyCalcutta) is present in different forms andKolkata'ssex industry is one of the largest in Asia.[1][2][3]Prostitution may bebrothel-based or non-brothel based as in the case ofcall girls. India is regarded as having one of the largest commercialsex trades globally.[4] Kolkata has manyred-light districts, out of whichSonagachi is the largest red-light district in Asia with more than 50,000 commercialsex workers.[5][6][7] According to a 2019 study by the Indian Journal of Public Health reported that West Bengal had the highest number of female sex workers (FSWs) in India, contributing nearly 25% of the country's total estimated 1.82 million FSWs. This suggests that around 455,000 FSWs were in West Bengal at that time.[8]
The total number of prostitutes inKolkata is unknown. Some estimates state that there are more than 60,000 brothel-based women and girls in prostitution in Kolkata.[9][10][11]
The population of prostitutes inSonagachi constitutes mainly of Nepalese, Bangladeshi and Indian women trafficked from north eastern and neighboring states, many who are trafficked into the area by their boyfriends or family.[10] Some sources estimate that are 30,000 Bangladeshi women in the brothels of Kolkata.[12]
According to some sources the most common form of trafficking consists in offering false promises or some offer of help out of a dead-end or crisis situation, force is used later after the prostitutes have already been sold. "Mashis (brothel owners/older sex workers) use friendship, sympathy, also veiled threats to convince the women that it is now in their best interest to conform and begin working."[9] The Crime Branch of Delhi Police has recovered one girl from Rabindra Sarani, Sonagachi who was missing along with eight other female inmates from Sanskar Ashram inDilshad Garden since December 2, 2018. Eight out of these nine girls were originally from Nepal, while the ninth girl was fromBhagalpur, Bihar. These girls had been rescued from a brothel in G.B. Road," police said.[13]
A farcical short-drama book namedBeshyaleela ( বেশ্যালীলা ) was printed in the middle of the year 1880 written by an anonymous writer ( অজ্ঞাতনামা ). It is not very familiar or much discussed book till now. In this drama, a good description can be found about the negative attitudes shown by the then existing 19th century educated BengaliBabu class of people towards the prostitutes and the prostitution. From the first half of the 19th century, centering on Sonagachhi, a huge organised prostitution area surrounding Cornwallis Street (NowBidhan Sarani) on the east, andChitpur on the west were formed. Although many areas in Calcutta were inhabited by those prostitutes outside those areas also. On the south it wasKalighat toKhidirpur dock areas, in the middle-Calcutta it was Kalinga-Fenwick Bazar, on the far south in Kareya area many girls from different social-classes of Hindu-Muslim-Christian communities were engaged with this profession. More than that, there was no clear 'mark' or 'boundary-line' between the 'gentleman areas' and the 'prostitutes areas'. Many areas had scattered or mixed up population of those two kinds. Rather, many areas could be termed as 'half-gentleman' areas, where normal gentleman's families and various types of prostitutes co-existed side by side. From the middle of the 19th century, the British colonial administration, Christian Missionaries, and native English-knowing educated 'Victorian' Indian gentlemen started campaign against prostitutes. This was their part of the project of social 'sanitation' process for creating the so-called 'gentle-society'. Under the leadership of Mr. Kaliprasanna Singha, the 'Vidyotsahini Sabha' ( বিদ্যোৎসাহিনী সভা ) submitted one mass-petition in the Indian Legislative Council.
Bowbazar has ared-light district where about 15,000prostitutes work.[14] The surrounding areas are inhabited by slum dwellers, truckers and migrant labourers. The adjacent Tiretta Bazar area is mainly a loading – unloading point with offices orgodowns of a large number of transport companies. The area is very unsanitary.[15]
In south Kolkata, there is a red light district in the neighbourhood ofKalighat. Located around the banks of theAdi Ganga canal, an estimated 1,000 to 1,500 prostitutes live and work there.[18] Kolkata has emerged as a hub for the trafficking of girls, who often arrive fromNepal,Bangladesh,Assam andBurma. From Kolkata they are often sold again to brothels in Mumbai (Bombay) or Chennai (Madras). Some will go on to theMiddle East, Africa and Europe.[19] Many of the women in Sonnagachi were forcedly taken away from their homes; some were tricked and others sold into prostitution by their friends and families; most of them are illiterate.[20]
The red-light district inKidderpore is the third largest in Kolkata.[16]NGOApne Aap has a support centre in the area and has made two films about life in Kidderpore's red-light district:Kali andShaadi Ka Shart Shauchalaya.[21]
The largestred-light district in Kolkata, is Sonagachi, it is also the largest red-light district in India.[22] The area came to be known as Sona Gachi from a Sufi saint Sona Ghazi whose tomb (mazaar) is located in the locality.[23] It is an area with several hundred multi-storey brothels, and around 10,000 sex workers.[24] Sonagachi is located in North-Kolkata near the intersection ofChittaranjan Avenue Sova Bazar and Beadon Street, just north of theMarble Palace. The Prostitute Population mostly consists of woman's from poor regions of neighboring states and border regions. Previously there were many local prostitutes in Sonagachi. But nowRajasthani, Bihari, Odia and Khamia-Nepalese prostitutes have gained in number. According to class-division, the red-light areas of Kolkata are also divided into four different classes: poor-class, lower-class, middle-class, and rich-class. For example, The red-light area which once existed opposite to the diagonal angle of Khanna Cinema Hall was of 'poor-class'. When they contacted customers, they asked them "Khat-e na Chot-e" ? Which means, "Do you want to sleep in wooden cot or on jute-sheet spread over the floor?" As customers wished, the fee varied according to their choice. The lower-class and middle-class of prostitute areas were scattered around Haarkaata Gully and near Chetla/Kalighat bridge.[25]
Severalnon-government organizations and government organizations operate here for the prevention ofsexually transmitted diseases (STD) includingAIDS. Sonagachi project is a prostitute's cooperative that operates in the area and empowers sex workers to insist oncondom use; a relatively low percentage of prostitutes in this district (5.17% of the 13,000 prostitutes in Sonagachi) are estimated to be HIV positive.[26] However, these efforts are hindered byhuman trafficking: refusal of clients to wear condom, and women controlled by third parties are forced to oblige.
According to some sources, prostitutes from Sonagachi who test HIV positive are not told about the results, and live with the disease without knowing about it "because theDMSC is worried that HIV positive women will be ostracized."[27] Some prostitutes in Sonagachi have stated that "the clients, at least three quarters of them" refuse to use condoms and "If we force them to use the condom, they will just go next door. There are so many women working here, and in the end, everyone is prepared to work without protection for fear of losing trade."[27]
Street prostitutes work in Esplanade Crossing,[28] opposite of cinema 'Metro' and in the street between Elite Cinema Hall and Regal Cinema Hall, Jagat Cinema nearSealdah station and under Sealdah flyover,[28] and another place is Ultadanga flyover and railway foot over bridge,Kalighat[28] andGaria.[17] Also a very small level high class escort service operates here, mostly college student or housewives or executives. Generally they use hotels booked by client or the flat of theirpimp.
Call girls operate independently and throughpimps or escort agencies. Prostitution is operated from many beauty parlours andmassage parlors in the city.[30][31] Pimps (commonly called agents) innightclubs,pubs, star hotels and floorboys acting as agents generally keep catalogues with pictures of the call girls.[31] The girls operate in places like flats, hotels, etc.[32] Generally the call girls go to the rooms in star hotels. However, when the client cannot provide a place of convenience, the agents provide one and the place is generally decided on before.[31]
Call girls in Kolkata may come from middle class, upper middle class and upper-class families. They may be executives, housewives, college students or actresses.[31][32]
TheKolkata Police have connections with many call girls working as their informers. Many criminals like to spend time with the girls. Hence some call girls are used by the police to get information about suspected criminals.[33]
Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (DMSC), which runs the Sonagachi project and several similar projects inWest Bengal, lobbies for the recognition ofsex workers' rights and full legalization.[34] DMSC hosted India's first national convention of sex workers on 14 November 1997, in Kolkata, entitled 'Sex Work is Real Work: We Demand Workers Rights'.[35]
The documentary entitledTales of The Night Fairies by Prof. Shohini Ghosh and Dr. Sabeena Ghadioke from Asia's leading Media instituteAJK, Mass Communication Research Centre, is about the Sonagachi area. It has won the Jeevika Award for the best documentary feature on livelihood in India.[37]
^Satarupa Dasgupta (2019). "Participation as a Health Communication Strategy in HIV/AIDS Intervention Projects: an Examination of a Project Targeting Commercial Sex Workers in India".Atlantic Journal of Communication.27 (2).Routledge:139–151.doi:10.1080/15456870.2019.1574535.S2CID150465047.
^abcdMitra, Nabamita; Chatterjee, Chandreyee; Chattopadhyaya, Sanjoy (1 April 2007)."New girls on the block".The Telegraph. Calcutta, India. Archived fromthe original on 12 November 2007.The Telegraph – 1 April 2007
Cornish, Flora, and Riddhi Banerjee. "How Do Relationships Between Peer Educators and Sex Workers Lead to Increased Condom Use?: A Social Capital Interpretation of the Sonagachi Project." Indian Anthropologist 43, no. 1 (2013): 51–64.JSTOR41920141
Tamang, Anand. A study of trafficked Nepalese girls and women in Mumbai and Kolkata, India / [principal investigator, Anand Tamang ; research director, John Frederick]. Kathmandu : Terre des hommes Foundation, 2005 (2006 printing). viii, 50 p.; 30 cm. HQ240.B6 T35 2005ISBN9994656678LCCN2008-307461.
Sinha, Indrani, 1950–2015. Mothers for sale : women in Kolkata's sex trade / Indrani Sinha and Shamita Das Dasgupta. Kolkata : Dasgupta Alliance, 2009. xix, 267 p. ; 22 cm. HQ240.C3 S49 2009ISBN978-8-182-11051-9LCCN2009-341771.
Sinha, S; Prasad, I (2021). "Examining hopes, aspirations, and future plans of women in non-brothel-based sex work in Kolkata, India".Cult Health Sex.23 (7):913–926.doi:10.1080/13691058.2020.1740793.PMID32452748.
Jana, S; Basu, I; Rotheram-Borus, MJ; Newman, PA (2004). "The Sonagachi Project: a sustainable community intervention program".AIDS Educ Prev.16 (5):405–14.doi:10.1521/aeap.16.5.405.48734.PMID15491952.
Evans, C; Lambert, H (January 2008). "The limits of behaviour change theory: condom use and contexts of HIV risk in the Kolkata sex industry".Cult Health Sex.10 (1):27–42.doi:10.1080/13691050701561393.PMID18038279.
Ghosh, Swati. "Empowerment of Sex Workers: The Kolkata Experience."Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 41, no. 13, Economic and Political Weekly, 2006, pp. 1289–91,JSTOR4418032.
Sarkar, K., B. Bal, R. Mukherjee, S.K. Niyogi, M.K. Saha, and S.K. Bhattacharya. "Epidemiology of HIV Infection among Brothel-Based Sex Workers in Kolkata, India."Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition 23, no. 3 (2005): 231–35.JSTOR23499323.
Bandyopadhyay, Aparna. "CHRONICLES OF LOVE, BETRAYAL AND PROSTITUTION IN LATE COLONIAL BENGAL." Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, vol. 75,Indian History Congress, 2014, pp. 723–28,JSTOR44158453.
Nag, Moni. "Sex Workers in Sonagachi: Pioneers of a Revolution."Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 40, no. 49, Economic and Political Weekly, 2005, pp. 5151–56,JSTOR4417483.
Evans, Catrin, and Helen Lambert. "The Limits of Behaviour Change Theory: Condom Use and Contexts of HIV Risk in the Kolkata Sex Industry."Culture, Health & Sexuality, vol. 10, no. 1,Taylor & Francis, Ltd., 2008, pp. 27–42,JSTOR20460978.
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