“We are of the view that prostitutes also have a right to live with dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution of India since they are also human beings and their problems also need to be addressed.A woman is compelled to indulge in prostitution not for pleasure but because of abject poverty. If such a woman is granted opportunity to avail some technical or vocational training, she would be able to earn her livelihood by such vocational training and skill instead of by selling her body,” a Bench of Justice Markandeya Katju and Justice Gyan Sudha Mishra said.
The court directed the government at the Centre and all state governments to give training to all sex workers and provide them suitable employment through social welfare boards.
“We direct the Central and state governments to prepare schemes for giving technical/vocational training to sex workers and sexually abused women in all cities in India. The schemes should mention in detail who will give the technical/vocational training and in what manner they can be rehabilitated and settled by offering them employment,” it said.
The Bench made the direction in an order dismissing the appeal filed by Budhadev Karmaskar against a Calcutta High Court judgment upholding the life term imposed upon him by a lower court in Kolkata for the murder of a sex worker in 1999.
“A person becomes a prostitute not because she enjoys it but because of poverty. Society must have sympathy towards sex workers and must not look down upon them,” the court noted. The Bench also referred to the novels and stories of noted Bengali writer Sharat Chand Chattopadhyaya and songs of Urdu poet and lyricist Sahil Ludhianvi who created prostitutes of high character in their creations.