Placing the sex workers on the same pedestal as any other citizen of the country stood to claim equal share in government’s welfare schemes, the Supreme Court in a significant judgment on Monday issued notices to the Centre and states asking them to evolve certain meaningful rehabilitation programmes for them.
The direction came in a verdict upholding the life sentence to a man, a customer of a sex worker, whom he had killed brutally in Kolkata’s “red-light area” 11 years ago in the presence of four of her companions by repeatedly kicking her and banging her head against the wall after he got incensed about her certain behaviour.
Dismissing the appeal of Budhadev Karmaskar, convicted for life by the trial court as well as the Calcutta high court for the brutal murder of Chhaya Rani Pal on September 17, 1999, a bench of Justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha Misra said, “The prostitutes also have right to live with dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution since they are also human beings and their problems also need to be addressed.”
“We strongly feel that the Central and the state governments through social welfare boards should prepare schemes for rehabilitation all over the country for physically and sexually-abused women commonly known as prostitutes,” the top court said reminding the Union and states about their constitutional obligations in the “welfare state” to all of its citizens, which include sex workers also.
The top court upheld the conviction of the accused after examining the post-mortem report, which listed 11 critical injuries that had caused instantaneous death of Chhaya and the eyewitness account of four other sex workers, who deposed before the trial court stating that Karmaskar continued to bang her head against the wall even as blood was oozing out of her mouth, nose, ears and from other injuries.