A story of Local Response by Madhu Naduvinamore, Chaithanya CBO, Bogalkote
The female sex workers CBO in Bogalkote received a distress call from a fellow member to say that she she had been arrested under the HPA act. Immediately, a group of a few members went to the police station and questioned the police authorities about the grounds on which they had arrested the lady.
The FSW community before this incident had undertaken two days training on the HPA act. They realised that under the HPA act the police could not arrest any woman for her work as a sex worker.
After a hot discussion with the police, the authorities realised that they were at fault and they came to know that this group was powerful. They then released the woman from custody.
Now the situation is different. No policeman is harassing sex workers unnecessarily. They accept that they are working at this profession for their livelihood and that they are no harm to society. In many cases, they have offered their services to prevent trafficking, incest and other forms of violence.
The moral of this story is that the weakness of a person is an opportunity for others to dominate.