Kolkata is a beautiful city. People celebrate the culture and festivals in Kolkata with sheer excitement. The red light area in Kolkata is a well-known name among the local people and outsiders as well. India is infamous in the world for these red-light areas.
Kolkata has Asia’s largest red light district, popular for sex work. But people do not know why these women are doing such work. Actually, they don’t want to know. According to a study by the Indian Journal of Public Health, West Bengal has the highest number of female sex workers in India. But despite being in this number, nobody talks about them.
The Other Side of the City
Prostitution in Kolkata is in many forms. The number of call girls in Kolkata is growing with the speed of development that is happening in the city. Many sex workers work with brothels and some of them work independently. According to some estimates, the total number of call girls in Kolkata goes over 60000. The areas known for sex work are:
Sonagachi: If we talk about the data, Sonagachi is the biggest red light area in Kolkata. And it has around 50000 sex workers.
Bowbazar: Bowbazar is home to 15000 sex workers. Truckers, and poor migrant labourers live around the place.
Kalighat: Near Kalighat, around the banks of Adi Ganga canal, there is a red light area, with almost 1000 to 1500 prostitutes living there.
Other than these, Kolkata has red light areas in Kidderpore and Lebu Bagan.
Where do They Come From
In Sonagachhi, you’ll see women from all over India, Nepal, and Bangladesh. Many of them didn’t choose this life. The one who took them here promised them good jobs and better lives. Some of them are kidnapped as children. That is how they were tricked and sold.
Some estimates say over 30,000 Bangladeshi women work in the brothels of Kolkata. Their lovers, agents, known persons, and even family members brought them here. Once inside, the rules change. “Mashis”, the brothel keepers, usually older sex workers, convince them to stay. With care, with fear, with manipulation. Sometimes, with violence.
There was a case where the Delhi Crime Branch recovered a missing Nepali girl from Rabindra Sarani, Sonagachi. With this girl the crime branch also recovered 8 other girls. Most of them were from Nepal and one from Bihar. They had all gone missing from a shelter home in Delhi. This is not just a story of one brothel. It is the pattern. A silent machine working in the shadows.
A History Behind the Red Light Area in Kolkata
Prostitution in Kolkata is not new. It has been in existence for centuries. In fact, by the mid-19th century, Sonagachi had already become a hub. Stretching from Cornwallis Street to Chitpur, it wasn’t just one pocket; it was an entire section of the city. Kalighat, Khidirpur docks, Fenwick Bazar, Kareya, prostitution spread across borders, beyond caste and religion.
An anonymous writer wrote Beshyaleela, a Bengali drama, in 1880s. He mocked the hypocrisy of the “educated Bengali gentleman” who judged prostitutes in public, yet visited them in private. There was never a clear line between ‘respectable’ areas and ‘red-light’ zones. People used to call them “half-gentlemen” areas because the families of prostates lived here side-by-side these families.
Hope in Their Life
The women in these red-light areas live in very poor conditions. Good food, clean clothes, and respect are far from them. Every day, dealing with dozens of men, some of them are drug addicts, and violent, along with STDs, with no education, but some of them are still fighting for a better life, and the results can be seen.
Various non-government organisations (NGOs) are working in these areas to provide healthcare facilities and education to sex workers and their children. NGOs are also educating the call girls about STDs such as HIV/AIDS since these virus spread through unprotected sex .
It is untrue today that the sex industry works in an unorganised and illegal way everywhere. Some platforms provide escort service in Kolkata in an organised way.
Conclusion
Think about a girl who comes from Bangladesh or Nepal with her agent, thinking about the dream of getting a good job, and having better life without knowing that now she has to work as a sex worker throughout her life. we cannot even imagine the horror of her knowing it. If your situation are forcing you to do what you do not like, it triggers anxiety, stress and depression. The girls dealt with it, fought it and at last accepted it as their fate.
Even after years of dignity-less life, they are still standing, showing their courage to the world that does not want to look them in the eyes. NGOs helping them, the Supreme Court has also advised the police to behave in a respectful manner with these call girls India.
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