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“Sex workers are also human beings and no one has a right to assault or murder them. A person becomes a prostitute not because she enjoys it but because of poverty. Society must have sympathy towards the sex workers and must not look down upon them. They are also entitled to a life of dignity in view of Article 21 of the Constitution,” Justices Markandey Katju and Gyansudha Misra said.
In their ruling, the judges referred to Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, whose novel Devdas dealt with social tensions in early 20th-century Bengal. One of the characters in the novel, Chandramukhi, a courtesan, takes care of the hero.
The bench also referred to Urdu poet Sahir Ludhianvi, who captured the plight of prostitutes in his poem Chakle.
The bench referred to Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, too, where one of the characters, Sonya Marmeladov, sells her body for the sake of her impoverished family. “Reference may also be made to Amrapali, who was a contemporary of Lord Buddha,” the bench added.
The court said it was “abject poverty” that forced a woman into prostitution. “If such a woman is granted opportunity to avail (herself of) 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 bench said.
The Telegraph for more