Asia Biggest Red Light Area 2022 – Sonagachi, Kolkata 

In Kolkata, prostitution is present in different forms. Prostitution may be brothel-based or non-brothel based as in the case of call girls. Prostitution (Call Girls Service) is illegal in India, causing prostitutes to work underground. The total number of prostitutes in Kolkata is unknown. Some estimates state that there are more than 6,000 brothel-based women and girls in prostitution in Kolkata.

Sonagachi is known as Asia's biggest red-light region. This region is the spot of more than 11000 sex laborers. There is an Oscar-winning narrative made in light of the existences of the youngsters brought into the world to whores. The name of the narrative was 'Naturally introduced to Whorehouses.

Prostitute population - The total number of prostitutes in Kolkata is not known. Some estimates state that there are more than 60,000 brothel-based women and girls in prostitution (escorts service) in Kolkata. The population of prostitutes in Sonagachi constitutes mainly of Nepalese, Indians and Bangladeshis. Some sources estimate that are 30,000 Bangladeshi women in the brothels of Kolkata.

According to some sources the most common form of trafficking consists in offering false promises or some offer of help out of a dead-end or crisis situation, force is used later after the prostitutes have already been sold. Mashis (brothel owners/older sex workers) use friendship, sympathy, also veiled threats to convince the women that it is now in their best interest to conform and begin working.

Here are area name -

1. The largest red-light district in Kolkata is Sonagachi
2. The areas near Rippon Street or Elliot Road could not be exactly referred as a 'prostitute area'. Mainly Anglo-Indian citizens lived there. Prostitutes who also lived there in different houses, they used to do their business in Kothhas or Kuthhis (small empty rooms for prostitution purpose only) scattered over the area.
3. In south Kolkata, there is a red-light district in the neighbourhood of Kalighat.
4. Kidderpore is an area in the south of Kolkata. There is a small red-light district on Mushigunj Road, near The Statesman's printing press.
5. In Bowbazar, opposite the Calcutta Medical College and Hospital, there is a small Shiva temple. The address is Premchand Boral Street. The small street left of this is another, small red-light district.
6. Baruipur is a small locality in the southern fringe of Kolkata. There is a small red-light district.
7. Near the bazaar in Behala Chowrasta, there was a red-light area, which was later stopped functioning, probably due to social pressure and lucrative residential/commercial complex promoting business.
8. Also, there was a red-light area near the Khanna Cinema Hall, north or Sealdah station, which was also stopped probably for the same reason.
9. There is a red-light area in Naihati railway station near the river banks.
10. South Kolkata Garia More used to be an area. Right now, it shifted little bit inside.

Kolkata Largest Red Light Area - Sonagachi

The largest red-light district in Kolkata is Sonagachi. The area came to be known as Sona Gachi from a sufi saint Sona Ghazi whose tomb (mazaar) is located in the locality.

It is an area with several hundred multi-story brothels, and around 10,000 sex workers

Sonagachi is located in North-Kolkata near the intersection of Chittaranjan Avenue Sova Bazar and Beadon Street, just north of the Marble Palace. Several NGOs and government organizations operate here for the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases (STD) including AIDS. Sonagachi project is a prostitute's cooperative that operates in the area and empowers sex workers to insist on condom use; a relatively low percentage of prostitutes in this district (5.17% of the 13,000 prostitutes in Sonagachi) are estimated to be HIV positive.

However, these efforts are hindered by human trafficking: refusal of clients to wear condom, and women controlled by third parties are forced to oblige. Kolkata has emerged as a hub for the trafficking of girls, who often arrive from Nepal, Bangladesh and Burma. From Kolkata they are often sold again to brothels in Mumbai (Bombay). Some will go on to the Middle East, Africa and Europe

How Girls in Kolkata are transported form different location in india?

Many of the women in Sonagachi were forcedly taken away from their homes; some were tricked and others sold into prostitution by their friends and families; most of them are illiterate.

According to some sources, prostitutes from Sonagachi who test HIV positive are not told about the results, and live with the disease without knowing about it because the DMSC is worried that HIV positive women will be ostracized.

Some prostitutes in Sonagachi have stated that the clients, at least three quarters of them refuse to use condoms and if we force them to use the condom, they will just go next door. There are so many women working here, and in the end, everyone is prepared to work without protection for fear of losing trade.

In south Kolkata, there is a red-light district in the neighbourhood of Kalighat. Though the location of this red-light district is way too far-off from the sacred site of the famous Kali Temple but according to civic maps of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation it falls under the area of Kalighat. Kidderpore is an area in the south of Kolkata. There is a small red-light district on Mushigunj Road, near The Statesman's printing press. In Bowbazar, oppposite the 'Calcutta Medical College and Hospital' there is a small Shiva temple. The address is Premchand Boral Street. The small street left of this is another, small red-light district.