Nath Uthrai: NIFT Students' Project to Legalise Prostitution

Business accommodated sex workers the day brothels, shrines of the sex trade, were seamlessly made to lace our society. Mankind’s relatively recent obsession with dialogue ushered prostitution into the realm of diplomacy. Filmmakers and journalists have time and again attempted to nudge this issue into popular media in a manner that it qualifies the paramount standard of decency in an Indian household—a familial conversation.

But prostitutes usually fall on the blind spot of a culturally appropriate and sexually hypocritical society; hardly earning their fair share of attention, money, respect or relatability. So, the tradition of selling their daughter as soon as she hits puberty, to the highest bidder is called marriage instead of sex trade in Khakranagla village, 200 kilometres from Delhi in Rajasthan. The advent of her womanhood comes at the cost of her virginity. Amit Chauhan, student of Textile Design at National Institute of Fashion Technology, Kangra decided to photograph these women who have been stamped and stocked as prostitutes, ever since they underwent the ceremony of Nath Utrai, as a part of which women take a ceremonial bath as soon as their first menstruation cycle strikes.

The bath is followed by her marriage to the highest paying man who assume the role of the bridegroom. After consummating the marriage in-name, she is further pushed to trade sex for money until it becomes routine. What could have remained confined to a college project, transformed into an initiative spearheaded by Amit and his friends driven towards spreading awareness about sex trade. The awareness campaign, Amit explained in his interview to Homegrown, has been named after the pubic tradition itself— Nath Utrai.

Amit agreed to having had certain misconceptions regarding the practice of prostitution but admitted that “engaging with any issue at a deeper level, leads to better understanding”, as it did in the case of these prostitutes from Rajasthan too. The urgent need to maintain morally-decorous image has led our society to outcast prostitutes. “Prostitution is not an easy task for any woman but some voluntarily make this choice because of financial vulnerability and dire circumstances. It enables them to feed their family but the problem is that due to the middlemen in the system, money doesn’t reach these women anyway”, Amit explained.

Having gained insights into their lives, Amit also supports legalization of prostitution. “It would lead to better treatment of these women both socially and economically. They’ll be able to live with dignity and financial independence.” The portrayal of these prostitutes in his photographs is nothing near safe or conventional. These women are smoking away societal stigmas to glory in these pictures, and unabashedly so.

The purpose is not to galvanize society to another set of truths about them. Rather, it is to sensitize them regarding the same. “We want to spread awareness through the styling project. We wish to change society’s thinking and ask them to treat prostitutes in a humanly manner and not as mere blotch on morals”, Amit explained highlighting the intention of the project.

An active Facebook handle is facilitating the research and reach of Nath Utrai. Eventually, Amit and his team plans to appeal to the government regarding the grim situation of the woman trafficking sector.