Prostitution

Now, in 2022, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court issued a historic order that recognised s*x work as a profession and said that s*x workers are entitled to dignity and equal protection under the law. The apex court elaborated that 'voluntary' s*x work was not illegal.

It can be seen that the Indian courts have made some favourable judgments towards s*x workers in the past. In 2011, Budhadev Karmaskar v State of West Bengal led the Supreme Court to hold that s*x workers have a right to dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution, which ensures the right to life and livelihood. In 2019, the Calcutta High Court stated that under ITPA, no s*x worker exploited for commercial s*x can be tried as an accused unless there is substantial evidence that she was a ‘co-conspirator’ in the crime. In September 2020, the Bombay High Court ordered the immediate release of three women s*x workers jailed at a state correctional institution, stating that s*x work was not a criminal offence under the law and that an adult woman had the right to choose her profession.

Now, in 2022, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court issued a historic order that recognised s*x work as a profession and said that s*x workers are entitled to dignity and equal protection under the law. The apex court elaborated that ‘voluntary’ s*x work was not illegal. It issued commendable guidelines along the lines that when a s*x worker makes a complaint of an offence, the police must take it seriously and act in accordance with law; that when a brothel is raided, the s*x workers concerned should not be arrested; that no child of a s*x worker should be separated from the mother merely on the ground that she is in the s*x trade; that the police should treat all s*x workers with dignity and should not abuse them; and more other positive directions.

vegue query. what are facts?