The Trafficking in Persons (Prevention, Care and Rehabilitation) Bill, 2021 is set to be tabled before the Indian parliament this month, despite severe criticism from workers, activists and academics. The bill is a cause for concern for many reasons. It is excessively reliant on criminal law, to the point of introducing the death penalty for some offences. Equally problematic is the potential impact of the bill on the economic precarity of workers and survivors, as this threatens to undermine the bill’s central aim: the care and rehabilitation of survivors while respecting their rights. I examine two ways in which the provisions of the bill compound workers and survivors’ economic precarity: by specifically targeting spas and massage parlours; and through its definition of the term ‘proceeds of crime’.
The bill makes a bad situation worse
Spas and massage parlours in India are regularly subject to police harassment under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 (‘ITPA’), since it is commonly assumed that these wellness centres are a façade for sex work. Consequently, police officers raid wellness centres by breaking into massage rooms mid-session, detaining masseuses on the grounds that they are ‘victims’ under the ITPA. Although it may be proven that a wellness centre was not in fact trafficking people or facilitating sex work at the time of trial, in the interim such workers lose their freedoms as they are ‘rehabilitated’ in shelter homes.
By jeopardising workers’ right to livelihood, the state actively facilitates the trafficking of workers.
Recently, an Indonesian masseuse was compelled to spend about a month in a women’s shelter after such a raid. This was a gross violation of many freedoms, including – crucially – her fundamental right to practice her livelihood. This is pivotal considering the economic precarity of workers in the informal sector in India, which often perpetrates a cycle of trafficking and re-trafficking. By jeopardising workers’ right to livelihood, the state actively facilitates the trafficking of workers. Compensation for loss of livelihood and disrepute because of such detention is rarely provided or adequate, and the enforcement of such compensation through litigation is often tricky and arduous – as has been the case for the Indonesian masseuse. Months since the raid, her case is still pending before the Supreme Court of India.
