Bengaluru's sex workers protest 'police brutalities'

Sixty sex workers in Bengaluru on Tuesday staged a demonstration before the Karnataka State Commission for Women’s office complaining over the “brutalisation” of the community by police.

“Women enter (prostitution) due to various circumstances and it is not morally or legally correct to assault them or extract money from them. We want the commission to put an end to this exploitation,” said Geetha, the secretary of Sadhana Mahila Sangha, a union of sex workers.

The women accused the cops of keeping them in police stations late into the night, physically assaulting them and foisting false cases on them to extort money.

They also charged the police with confiscating their phones, calling their families or landlords and disturbing their personal lives.

Commission chairperson Pramila Naidu accepted the complaint and said she would forward it to the police commissioner and the DCPs for further investigation.

She also vowed to look into the footage from the police station concerned to confirm if there are any violations.