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 reappears in society, which may have greater potentiality of destroying the peace in family life and also in society. Prostitution's present day multiple variables are instances how it is spreading.

Instead of banning prostitution 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.
Generally speaking, countries of the world are categorized with four types of law governing prostitution: (a) total prohibition; (b) regulation; (c) repression, and (d) total toleration. India comes within the category of repression. It has the Suppression of Immoral Traffic in Women and Girls Act, 1956 (SITA) renamed since as the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act, 1956 (ITPA). Indian law suppresses prostitution by forbidding its blatant manifestation.

The institution of prostitution is the external manifestation of the failure of man to control his animal instinct within the limits set by the institution of marriage. The view of historians, social scientists and other scholars worldwide is that the institution of marriage has existed in human society from time immemorial. This is the generally accepted view. In no period of recorded human history has any civilized society existed without the institution of marriage in some form or another. With the help of institution of marriage, man has tried to tame his wild and brutal instinct and impulses. In this area, there has been a fair amount of success but not full and complete success, as man has not always remained satisfied with the company of his wife and has at times sought sexual gratification outside the limits of wedlock. As a result, institutions like prostitution and concubinage have co-existed with marriage since time immemorial. Man has, however, tolerated these institutions as necessary social evils, for the greater good of family and society.

In ancient India, concubinage and prostitution were not unknown. In the Rig Veda Samhita, there is a reference to the jara (paramour) and his concubine. There were heavenly prostitutes also. They were known as apsaras and urvashis. Quite often they were sent by the king of gods (Indra) and other gods too to entice human being engaged in the practice of austere penances for gaining knowledge of the Supreme Reality. The prostitute was known as ganika and veshya as well. Chanakya says, 'salajja ganika nastah' (shy prostitutes are no good). In the drama Mrichha Katika, it is stated, 'Like the pond, creeper or the boat, you, who are a prostitute, you (should) adore every person'. Prof. W.W.Buckland, in his noted book, Roman Law from Augustus to Justinian (1968) stated, 'Concubinatus was a recognized connection short of marriage, which seems to owe its legal recognition to the restrictive legislation of the early Empire on marriage………..It was encouraged by the immorality of Roman women of high rank; men preferred to contract this union with women of lower class but higher character……….'

According to Chamber's Encyclopedia, religious prostitution was a feature of many ancient civilizations, including those of Persia, Babylonia, Assyria, Egypt and Phoenicia. Among most of these peoples, the priests and priestesses were a special class of prostitutes. In Babylonia, however, a compulsory single act of prostitution was required of every woman as part of the worship of the goddess Mylitta. The most plausible explanation of religious prostitution is the belief of the ancients that benefits would be conferred on any one who had intercourse with a god or with one of god's survivors.

Article 23(1) of the Constitution of India prohibits traffic in human beings. It also provides that any contravention of this provision shall be an offence punishable in accordance with law. Article 35(a)(ii) of the Constitution confers on Parliament exclusive power to prescribe punishment for those acts as are declared to be offences under these provisions of the Constitution. Article 39(1) of the Constitution provides that the State shall, in particular, direct its policy towards securing that childhood and youth are protected against exploitation and against moral and material abandonment. The 1956 Act was enacted in pursuance of an International Convention (1950) and the impugned Constitutional provisions.

Prostitution is, beyond doubt, a social evil. It has been an obnoxious feature of every society. It has been observed in a recent study on prostitution that 'in a theoretically good society, where sexual fulfillment ought to be possible as are other kinds of personal satisfaction, no one would be a prostitute or a client….' Despite the attempts made from time to time to check it, the evil of prostitution persists. The 1956 Act is one such attempt to check the evil of prostitution as a measure of preventing the exploitation of women and girls for immoral purposes. Now the Act is sought to be amended further to check the evil of prostitution.

Prostitution is also thought of as a threat to the marriage-family institution. Lawmakers are afraid that the delicate threads that bind society together will be broken if people are free to indulge in sexual activity for pleasure.

Laws, it is stated, are often not enforced adequately because the police have too many other things to do. Judges also know that jail will not rehabilitate a prostitute. Nevertheless, laws exist to provide that prostitution is not a socially acceptable form of social behaviour.

Prostitution like many other evils, is a social problem. Eradication of such evils cannot be achieved by legislation alone. It requires the cooperation of every individual citizen as well.

In the dialogue between King Ashwapati and the six Brahmins in one of the Upnishads, the King says, ' In my kingdom, there is no thief, no person indulging in dirty and bad actions, no drunkard, no Brahmin who does not keep and worship the Fire, no person who is not learned, no man of loose morals—from whom will come any woman of loose morale?'
When the general moral level of the people rises to this exalted idealistic level, prostitution also can be brought down or reduced more effectively.#