WILLIAM BRANGHAM: In India, as many as# three million women are believed to be## sex workers.

They're often pushed into the# trade because of extreme poverty or coercion.

We bring you the story tonight of one organization# that's helped more than 32,000 of these women## find a pathway out.

While this group has earned# international awards and philanthropic support,## it has also raised complicated questions# about how best to help these women,## especially those who aren't asking to be rescued.

Fred de Sam Lazaro has our story.

It's# part of his series Agents For Change.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: The games, dancing# and loud music mean it's Friday night## at Prajwala and the staff are# taking a moment for themselves.

Most of the women here share a deep bond# over their complex, painful histories,## beginning with the founder.

She stands just# 4'6'' tall, but hers is her commanding presence.

SUNITHA KRISHNAN, Founder, Prajwala: I was a## high achiever and ever.. FRED DE SAM LAZARO: That was until age 15,## when she was gang raped by eight men.# Sunitha Krishnan says, far more painful## than the physical trauma was the social# indifference or innuendo that she endured.

SUNITHA KRISHNAN: I was loose.

I was fallen.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: They were blaming you.

SUNITHA KRISHNAN: Everybody.

Everybody.# And I had loose morals.

We want .. to behave in a particular way.

We want her# to feel ashamed, guilty.

I chose not to.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Instead, she says the# ordeal helped her focus as an aspiring## social worker on the fight against what# she calls an age-old culture of misogyny,## manifest in sexual assaults and# a thriving prostitution industry.

This is Prajwala's base camp.

Thirty years ago, she founded the organization# called Prajwala, or Eternal Flame, to shelter## women removed in police raids from brothels# and to police the police, ensuring that raids## are actually conducted and that the women, widely# marginalized in India, are treated with respect.

Since then, thousands have come# through Prajwala's various programs.## As I talked to groups of survivors# around the campus, almost everyone's## story began with dire poverty that left them# vulnerable to an extensive trafficking mafia.

LAKSHMI PRIYA, Trafficking Survivor# (through translator): My husband's## sister brought me to Hyderabad an.. FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Lakshmi Priya fell# victim into a scam marriage scheme.

LAKSHMI PRIYA (through translator): They took my# daughter away from me and, for the sake of her## safety, I used to do whatever they forced me to# do.

If I didn't, they would beat me very harshly.

NAZIA, Trafficking Survivor (through# translator): My father died in a road## accident and I was left with# a mother and a small brother.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Nazia became her family's# breadwinner as a teenager and was convinced by## a trafficker that there was better paid work in# Hyderabad.

It turned out to be in the sex trade.

NAZIA (through translator): Sometimes I used# to attend 20 customers per day.

They would## make us drink and smoke.

And if we didn't do# the work, they would beat us very harshly.

SIRAJ, Trafficking Survivor# (through translator): I wanted to## die instead of living th.. FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Siraj was promised training# and a tailoring job 1,000 miles from her home## in the capital, Delhi.

She found herself# in a brothel, and she found a razor blade.

SIRAJ (through translator): After# I cut my hand a lot of blood came## out and I became unconscious.

I# don't know what happened later.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: She was picked up hours later# by police and eventually placed in this shelter.

SIRAJ (through translator):# Today, she's trained and employed# by Prajwala as a bookbinder earning a decent wage.

SUNITHA KRISHNAN: This is a# product that we are doing.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Bookbinding is one of# several training initiatives that double## up as revenue-generating businesses,# training survivors in skills ranging## from tailoring to welding to carpentry and# paying them and their teachers' salaries.

SUNITHA KRISHNAN: When they go to construction# sites, everybody, like, stands back, oh,## my God, women welders, we have never seen# them.

So coming from a perception which## is indoctrinated into them in the brothel, that# you go out, everybody is going to throw you out,## nobody is going to accept you, suddenly,# when you get that sense of respect.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: But the journey# to achieving the success is arduous.## It can take years to overcome# trauma and learn new skills,## and not everyone agrees it's the right# approach to dealing with the sex industry.

Some human rights advocates and people who# work in the sex industry take issue with## what they call the raid-and-rescue approach# that brings women to Prajwala's shelters.## Most of these women, they say, are not actually# trafficked and go into the business voluntarily,## albeit because their poverty and# illiteracy give them few other options.

Nonetheless, they say, these women are in the# business voluntarily and don't want to be rescued.

VIBHUTI RAMACHANDRAN, University of California,# Irvine: Why is someone doing domestic work?## Why is someone doing factory work?

It's not# necessarily their number one choice of what## they wanted to do.

It's within the constraints# of their education and their economic status.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Vibhuti Ramachandran## is an anthropologist at the# University of California, Irvine.

VIBHUTI RAMACHANDRAN: So why are we# exceptionalizing the sex industry is## a question worth asking, right?

And# then whose morality is shaping that?

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Prostitution is# technically a legal profession in India,## but the law criminalizes related activities# like soliciting or operating a brothel.

Brothel raids are the most# common law enforcement tactic,## removing women who are automatically presumed# to be trafficking victims and placing them in## protective shelters for rehabilitation,# to which they're entitled by law.

Ramachandran says the approach has been heavily# influenced by U.S.

policy in recent decades.

VIBHUTI RAMACHANDRAN: With the Bush administration# in the early 2000s, where there was a lot## of importance given to anti-trafficking# and there was money associated with it.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: The result, she and others# say, is a patchwork of shoddy enforcement,## many substandard shelters and a confiscation of# these women's most viable way to earn a living.

VIBHUTI RAMACHANDRAN: There's a lot of# emphasis on training and reforming these women,## right?

But a lot of them say, we don't have# time for that.

We can't afford to be learning.

SUNITHA KRISHNAN: We have books.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Sunitha Krishnan says the# solution is to improve the quality of shelters## and rehab programs.

Prajwala receives# high marks for its vocational training,## but it too has faced protests from women# seeking to leave its fortified shelters,## including escape attempts and at# least one woman who died from suicide.

Getting released from a shelter often involves# tedious procedures through a notoriously slow## court system.

And rehabilitation is# no walk in the park, says Krishnan.

SUNITHA KRISHNAN: From trauma# care to support in medical care,## de-addiction, detoxification, all this takes time.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: So it's# not surprising, she says,## that women want to escape from shelters and up# to 15 percent of them do return to sex work.

SUNITHA KRISHNAN: The large number of them# have gone back because of other compulsions,## like a Stockholm syndrome or a trauma bond# that they have developed with an abuser.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: When it comes to sex work,# she calls herself steadfastly abolitionist.

Sex work, in your mind, cannot be a# profession like most other professions.

SUNITHA KRISHNAN: I don't believe so.# I believe it is the oldest form of## patriarchal legitimization of commodifying# a woman's body as a sexual object.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Education is key to bringing# fundamental change to give young people options,## Krishnan says.

She took me to a mainstreaming# program Prajwala runs in distressed neighborhoods## to help children who are not in school# through tutoring or school readiness programs.

This, it is hoped, would mean a more# straightforward vocational journey for## the next generation than that of the women# that Prajwala shelters and their children.## Lakshmi Priya is reunited with her daughter,# who is now in her first year of law school.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Fred# de Sam Lazaro in Hyderabad, India.