After turning a blind eye to the thriving menace of sex workers in and around the eastern side of Bhayandar railway station, the Thane (rural) police finally clamped down on the activities.
Personnel from the Navghar police station apprehended three sex workers and booked them under the relevant sections of the Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act, (PITA) late Thursday night.
The sex workers openly solicit customers on public space near the railway station and on the stretch of road leading to market area in Kharigaon which has become a permanent address for such activities.
The women have been sent to a rehabilitation centre. However action is awaited against several lodges in the vicinity which are notorious in providing rooms to customers on an hourly basis, thus encouraging the activities which have gained momentum posing intense harassment to people especially women who sometimes are mistaken for sex workers and harassed by alcoholics and junkies.
Observing that prostitution, by itself, is neither a criminal offence under the law nor punishable, except public solicitation, had the Bombay High Court recently ordered the release of three women who were caught from a guest house in Mumbai last year. Meanwhile, Navghar police is conducting further investigations into the case.
