> underworlds & borderlands crossing boundaries Bangladeshi sex workers in Calcutta

It is not strange that Munni and Panna seek solace and legitimacy in an identity which is neither here nor there. Nor is it irrational for them to belong here while retaining ties of belonging there. This dualism stretches across borders between Bangladesh and India, embedded in a world of concealment and exposure where the legal brushes the illegal.

Malini Sur ing with the ‘home’ left behind. Their change hands several times across workers who want recog- the Benodini Trade Union, others (such trans-nationality poses new questions the border and beyond, experiencing nised as an occupation, to free it from as Sanlaap) shun forums that demand unni and Panna are not uncom- for understanding women’s migration humiliation and torture before landing its underpaid, highly exploitative status. workers’ rights, arguing that it is more Mmon names in and and re-settlement and exposes contra- in a Calcutta . Upon arrival, they The Durbar and other NGOs’ attempts crucial to prevent sexual trafficking, Kalighat – Calcutta’s brothel areas. dictions within NGO discourses on compete for space and clients amongst to unionise and confederate the women especially . The public Sometimes Munni and Panna take on anti-trafficking measures vis-à-vis com- a multi-ethnic and sometimes under- have improved Munni and Panna’s representation of these women reflect different, Hindu names. Either way, it’s mercial sex work. age group. Their first years are spent in position.3 The geographic, cultural and NGO ideologies that steer advocacy and difficult to ascertain whether Munni and bondage with brothel keepers who take linguistic proximity between Bangla- intervention. Panna are internal migrants from West From sex slaves to sex the lion’s share of their earnings; later desh and West Bengal helps Munni Bengal or cross-border Bangladeshi workers they work independently. They negoti- and Panna to pass as natives of either; Typically, when women are identified as migrants. If the latter, they remain uni- Munni and Panna (fictitious names) ate daily with pimps and police and in they can thus conceal their cross-border Bangladeshi victims of sexual traffick- dentified by the Indian state by assimi- are often represented as ‘victims’ of sex more recent years with HIV/AIDS inter- identities and march ahead undaunted ing, they are placed within safe shelters lating within the larger population of trafficking – words hurled at interna- ventionists – mainly public health offi- by their status as illegal migrants. With and subsequently sent back to Bangla- sex workers in Calcutta. They presently tional policy forums to convey the deep- cials and social workers. Pimps, police, a banner in one hand and a charter desh. This transfer back ‘home’ is seen live in ghettos – a marked departure est form of exploitation. They dwell as social workers and politicians seek them of demands in the other, they do not as the best possible solution to end their from their previous mobility. Their alarmist statistics, laced with global con- out as stakeholders and trump cards to shun public scrutiny but join the voices trauma, aided by legal guidance, NGO entry across an international border into cerns on criminal practises that seem- generate revenue, claim health targets demanding workers’ rights, addressing vigilance and diplomatic good will. escapes the gaze of the state, ingly accompany migrating women.1 and distribute voter cards. media and political forums and seeking However, not all of them want to return, which supposedly monitors and con- Individual experiences surface in sensi- a better world for their children, most of and even if they do, they might not find trols both movement and prostitution. tively documented NGO interventions.2 The demand for the legal recognition whom are enrolled in government and their way ‘home’; some spend months Though these women are able to mask Typically, women are enticed with false of sex work has since 1995 been spear- NGO-run city schools. They revel in an or years in similar safe shelters in Bang- their nationality and indeed do so, like promises of domesticity or better work headed by the Durbar Mahila Saman- almost festival-like celebration of their ladesh. Rashida (not her real name), all migrants they retain ties of belong- prospects in a big city. Instead, they waya Committee, a platform for sex new identity: erecting stalls at public whom I met in Khulna, Bangladesh, in exhibitions, selling placards on safe sex May 2004, was sheltered by a rural NGO. [advertisement] and displaying their culinary skills. The custodian of a small savings group scheme in her village, she was seduced Like others in the brothel areas of Cal- by her lover to hand over collective funds cutta, they no longer inhabit the world of and travel with him to India. Upon her the forbidden, hidden from public con- repatriation to Bangladesh after months sciousness. By claiming a larger space of sexual assault and torture, she still through much publicised events in and waits for her family, her lover and now around the city, Munni and Panna cling hostile villagers to accept her. to the affirmation of NGO support that accords them entitlement to certain Munni and Panna are not resigned to rights. NGO interventions have trans- a life in Calcutta. Only in moments formed the ‘victim’ of of trust do they reveal their national- from a disempowered woman shrouded ity. Occasionally, they divulge that they from public view into a ‘sex worker’ who travel to Rajshahi in Bangladesh, and transgresses social boundaries in order not to Bongaon in West Bengal, for to attain a legitimate place in society. Eid, sexually bribing the border patrol to claim a ‘home’ left behind. Their life To home and back experiences are not rooted but rather in However, Munni and Panna are not just constant movement back and forth – a subjects of intervention within brothels. state of being that is not always under- While their physical presence might be stood by their world of familiar faces in used to demand progressive workers’ Calcutta. < rights legislation, their migration to these ghettos is also a target of NGO Malini Sur intervention to prevent sexual bond- Department of Sociology and Anthropology age. While some NGOs advocate forg- University of Amsterdam ing alliances with trade unions, such as [email protected] Notes 1. Internationally, an expansive definition of trafficking includes forms of exploitation other than sexual in the ‘Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children’ supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime (15 November 2000. UN Assembly Resolution 55/25. http://www.ohchr.org/english/law/protocoltraffic.htm). In contrast, the 2002 SAARC Convention on Preventing and Combating Trafficking in Women and Children for Prostitution defines trafficking narrowly, disregarding women’s mobility for work (http://www.saarc-sec.org/publication/conv-traffiking.pdf). See also: Kapur, Ratna. Spring 2005. ‘Travel Plans: Border Crossings and the Rights of Transnational Migrants’. Harvard Human Rights Law Journal 18.

2. I am grateful to Anindita Chakraborty of Sanlaap (Hub) for sharing case studies with me. I benefited enormously from my conversations with Deep Purakayastha (Praajak, West Bengal), Paromita Bannerjee (Diksha, Calcutta) and Kanika Kaul (Lawyers Collective, New Delhi). The conjectures here are my own. 3. See Women’s Interlink Foundation and Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee Report of the First National Con- ference of Sex Workers organised by Durbaar Mahila Samanwaya Committee 14-16 November 1997. Yuba Bharati Krirangan, Calcutta.

1 6 IIAS Newsletter | #42 | Autumn 2006