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ABSTRACT The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 has criminalised commercial prostitution in India but this law does not talk about criminalising voluntary, paid and consensual sex work. In modern times, due to the activeness of various NGOs, due to more focus on the rights of women and due to various progressive judgements of higher courts, women have been given freedom to choose their profession. In this regard, the concerned authorities have been asked to not take any legal actions on the women who are consensually involved in the profession of sex work. In the light of various ambiguities in the modern and traditional societies and due to the changing mindsets of people, it becomes necessary to analyse the legal status of the prostitution as a profession in India and it has to be found out what steps should be taken to secure the rights of sex workers and to provide them an opportunity of rehabilitation. In this paper, it has been examined whether the act of prostitution is legalised in India or not. The legal status of paid and consensual sex work is analysed. Doctrinal method of research has been followed. Indian laws and judgements of courts have been analysed. The shortcomings and loopholes in the existing legal system have been detected. It has checked how legalisation of paid and consensual sex works will solve various existing and ongoing dilemmas in the perception of people regarding sex work as profession and how legalisation will protect people involved in paid and consensual sex work. KEYWORDS: Prostitution, The Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956, Legalisation of prostitution, Commercial prostitution, Organised sex work, Sex trafficking, Rights of sex workers, exploitation of sex workers, Right to livelihood of sex workers. 1 LLM, Amity Law School, Amity University, Lucknow. 2 Assistant Professor, Grade III, Amity University, Lucknow. 2