Report No. 64
3.11. Amendment regarding call-girls not recommended.-
We have given careful thought to this recommendation. If the intention is that 'call-girls', i.e. girls who are available for prostitution on a telephonic or other message being sent to them, should not be allowed to practice their profession if it is carried on for the gain of another person1 or for the mutual gain of two or more persons,2 then the amendment would be merely clarificatory, and we shall assume, for the moment, that such a clarification is needed. But, if the intention is that there should be a total ban on call-girls, we are afraid that it would go beyond the general scope of the Act. As we have pointed out above,3 and as indeed was noted by the Committee also,4 the scope of the Act is narrow. The Act does not abolish prostitution as such.
The main activities which it punishes are prostitution of another person for profit of oneself, or promoting prostitution by letting out a house, exploiting girls for prostitution in specified places and the like. The fact that the appointment with a girl is made on telephone, or that she is requisitioned to offer her services at the residence of-the customer who sends the requisition, would not, in our view, in itself, justify a departure from the general scheme of the Act, if the call-girl does not parade her charms in the public, or indulge in soliciting or in any of the other prohibited acts.
If prostitution is practised in a manner which is offensive to a neighbour, then a civil remedy for nuisance is also available, as such acts cause undue and unreasonable interference with the comfortable and convenient enjoyment of the neighbour's premises,5 and the whole character of the street might change for the worse.6 But, so long as prostitution itself is not a crime, the individual act of a girl who offers her services on phone cannot be prohibited. It is hardly necessary to emphasise that these observations are made in the light of the narrow scope of the Act.
1. Cf. section 2(a), definition of 'brothel'.
2. See also para. 3.12, infra.
3. Para. 3.6, supra.
4. Para. 3.9, supra.
5. Thompson Schwab v. Costaki, (1956) 1 WIR 355: (1956) 1 All ER 652.
6. See also Chapter 4, infra,