‘I was sold 30 years ago, have no past to prove’: Paperless Kolkata's Sonagachhi residents in SIR queue

KOLKATA: I was sold 30 years ago—how can I show the papers? The exasperated comment by a 36-year-old sex worker summed up the mood in Kolkata's largest red-light area when several residents of Sonagachhi, who had no papers to show to get enlisted as voters, attended a 'special hearing' conducted by the Election Commission on Monday. Even though the hearing process concluded on Feb 14 , a special session was held for those without documents.

A total of 266 sex workers' names were listed from wards 18 and 26, who were asked mostly about their family roots.




One sex worker, who came with her face covered with a black mask, was asked to show documents related to her father. She replied: "I can't remember his face, but I remember that my childhood was spent in a rural area, though I don't know where." She came with her son and submitted his birth certificate, in which her live-in partner's name was mentioned.

Another sex worker came with a pile of her own documents, but she was asked to show older documents to prove her family roots. After attending the hearing, she told TOI: "I was sold 30 years ago, and I never met anyone related to my past life. This place is my only home, and I have all my documents like Aadhaar card, voter card, and PAN card, but I can't show anything related to my past life."

Around 7,000 sex workers are spread across 18 parts of the two wards. Of them, 266 were listed after failing to show documents in the previous hearings. Twenty-six were called for the special hearing and asked to show any past documents to establish links to their earlier lives.

A BLO from Ward 18 said: "During form distribution, a number of sex workers said they didn't have any documents to show, or they left most columns blank, which is quite natural for them. How will they get documents from the past that has already faded from their lives?"