Genetic Privacy and Prostitution: Biotechnological Health Laws and the Risk of Discriminatory Profiling-a Study

Abstract

The intersection of genetic privacy, biotechnological health laws, and sex work raises profound legal, ethical, and human rights challenges in contemporary India. With the increasing use of biometric and genetic technologies in public health surveillance—such as DNA profiling, mandatory health screenings, and biometric identification for welfare schemes—sex workers face heightened risks of discriminatory profiling, stigmatization, and privacy violations. This study critically examines how such measures, though often justified in the name of public health and disease prevention, disproportionately target marginalized groups, particularly women in prostitution, thereby undermining the constitutional guarantees of dignity, equality, and privacy under Article 21 as affirmed in Justice K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India (2017).

Methodologically, this is an empirical socio-legal study combining doctrinal analysis of statutory frameworks (DNA Technology Regulation Bill, 2019; Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956; and health laws) with field-based qualitative research. Primary data was collected through structured interviews and focus group discussions with sex workers in urban and semi-urban red-light areas of North 24 Parganas, West Bengal, as well as consultations with health practitioners, NGO workers, and legal professionals. Findings reveal that while sex workers are receptive to health interventions when conducted voluntarily and confidentially, mandatory genetic data collection without informed consent generates fear of surveillance, loss of anonymity, and social exclusion.

The analysis highlights that genetic privacy concerns are not merely technological but deeply socio-legal, reinforcing existing hierarchies of caste, gender, and class. The study concludes that any biotechnological health law must be grounded in the principles of informed consent, confidentiality, non-discrimination, and proportionality, ensuring that sex workers are not reduced to data points in state surveillance mechanisms. It calls for a rights-based regulatory framework balancing public health imperatives with the protection of vulnerable communities, alongside broader debates on data protection, bodily autonomy, and sexual citizenship in India.