Report No. 64

1.7. Attempts to stop prostitution not successful.-

Any attempt to stop prostitution by legislation or by any other means of social control has always proved abortive. Prostitution has, therefore, been tolerated as a necessary evil. No country in the world has been able to stop this institution successfully. Even if the law stops it, then, in some other insidious and subtle form, it is bound to re-appear in society1 and that may have greater potentiality of destroying the peace in family life and also in society. The recent institution of call girls seems to be an instance in point. Hence, instead of banning it totally, the law in every country has tried to regulate it so that it may be kept within its legitimate bounds without unduly encroaching upon the institution of marriage and the family.

1. See also, para. 3.3, infra