Undoubtedly, this pandemic has made every one of us suffered but the degree of suffering is of extreme level for those whose work goes unrecognized by Law and Society. Sex Workers are one of them as the concept of working as a sex worker remains taboo in the 21st Century. Society views them with wrecked eyes. They are mostly deprived of financial and legal assistance from Government.
According to Reuters 2017, there are around 20 million Girls and Women earning their livelihood by working as Sex Worker. Most of them come from poor families, marginalized groups, and minority groups. A lot are Nepali or Bangladeshi by origin. The majority have been made to enter into a profession by force. They are exploited at every moment on moral beliefs. Physical and Mental Torture forms a part of their day-to-day lifestyle. For the majority of them, Fundamental rights enshrined in our constitution are of no use as they remain unaware of their rights throughout their lifetime. There are only a handful of girls and women who successfully managed to escape from that vicious circle. Even they managed to escape; they find it hard to settle in their new world as societal acceptance remains a barrier.
This pandemic has further destroyed their already devastated life. The nationwide lockdown has further emptied their torn pocket. The income remains zero. There is no specific statistical data available to demonstrate their sufferings. However, several testimonies are defining their grievances. The billion-dollar industry has come to a halt leaving millions of breadwinners unemployed. Other than this, they are also regular sufferers of Police Brutality, as legal assistance is far from reality for them. There are instances when they are charged with fines and not even provided with receipts. These brutalities have been increased during this pandemic period. In March 2021, Sex workers of Bengaluru protested against the Police brutalities committed against them. A lot of their sufferings get faded in the narrow streets. They are also devoid of many welfare schemes initiated by the Governments as the majority of them lack their proper documentation and identification proof i.e. Voter I’d card, Ration Card, Residence proof, etc.
As citizens of India, they are provided with every legal and Fundamental right present in our constitution. However, they still find them hard to be recognized as workers, due to which their sufferings doubles especially during a pandemic. Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 (ITPA) is the only legislation dealing with issues related to Sex Workers. The legislation does not completely prohibit prostitution but restricts it to private places. Judiciary, from time to time upheld the liberty of Sex Workers. Recently, Bombay High Court in Kajal Mukesh Singh and Ors v. The State of Maharashtra held that Prostitution is not a criminal offense. In this case around 20 women were arrested under ITPA, 1956. The court further held that adult women are free to choose the occupation of their own choice. A divisional bench of Supreme Court in Budhadev Karmaskar vs State Of West Bengal observed, “…a woman is compelled to indulge in prostitution not for pleasure but because of abject poverty. If such a woman is granted the 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.” The Court furtherdirected the State and Central Government to prepare schemes for providing vocational and technical training to Sex Workers.
CONCLUSION
Our constitution promotes equality for all; even then there are groups of people who are always vulnerable to inequality. The plight of Sex workers is not hidden from anyone but it’s the orthodox nature of society that forces us to ignore their sufferings. It is important to understand that every person is human first and their profession is not going to decide whether they will be provided basic human rights or not.