The event was hosted by the law and gender committee. The event consisted of a open discussion on Sex Work in India. The panel consisted of a wide array of speakers including Adv. Saba Syed, Geetha M, who is the secretary general of the Sadhana Mahila Sangha, which is a bengaluru based NGO that supports sex workers, and many former sex workers that gave a realistic insight into sex work. Elaborating their experiences the said that said sex work is often looked down upon, raises issues towards reputation and talked about how bollywood influences people’s perceptions about sex work. It was highly interactive. Another speaker asked about how society should treat sex workers for their choices and how they actually are treated by the justice system and society and further explained about it. Another speaker spoke about the 1990s and early 2000s violence, police discrimination and their dehumanizing behavior and how police used to abuse sex workers, beat them and rape them. They were treated as inhuman and inferior. She spoke about the unfairness of the justice system where judges didn’t want to see their faces, they were made to cover them up and given unequal treatment. They got no proper protection, they were extremely marginalized.

She spoke about Sadhana’s help towards sex workers and how they approached it and saved many women. They help identify vulnerable people, council women and provide options to them. AFL and PUCL have helped them too. They won 374 cases in court and continue to help more. Adv. Saba then spoke and gave insight and explained about the legal frameworks regarding sex work in India and it’s issues. Sahana Ramesh, a 5th year student of St Josephs College of Law actively participated in the discussion and talked about Periyar and Ambedkar’s understanding of Sex Work and how they treated it.

It was an informative, engaging and valuable session that helped gain more perspective, information about reality and empathy.