Brief by Shorts91 Newsdesk / 04:53am on 03 Jun 2026,Wednesday India
The Supreme Court has held that voluntary sex work by consenting adults is not unlawful under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act (ITPA) and directed police not to harass or detain adult sex workers found during raids. A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan said the law does not authorise action against adults engaged in sex work by choice, though operating a brothel remains illegal. The court ruled that rehabilitation cannot be imposed against a sex worker’s will and must be based on consent. Hearing a plea on protecting trafficking victims’ rights, the bench criticised the ITPA’s “one-size-fits-all” approach and called for individual assessment in rehabilitation decisions. (PC: X)
