Budhadev Karmaskar v State of West Bengal
- Parinaz Fanibanda, Unitedworld School of Law, Karnavati University
- December 15, 2020
Content :
Even when the Constitution guarantees and grants equal rights and powers to every human being in the country, it is time and again that because of indifferences and exploitation of some sections of the society this right need to be reclaimed with the facilitation of judicial intervention and/or legislations protection. Such is the case of Budhadev Karmaskar v State of West Bengal where a sex-worker had been brutally murdered for refusing to have sexual intercourse with the appellant which led the courts to not only convict him for the act that he had committed and challenged to be innocent of but also to consider the bigger picture of the plight of sex-workers, prostitutes and the forced victims of sex trade in the society. This led to the landmark judgement of the Apex Court passed for protection of sex workers life by giving a wide interpretation to Article 21 of the Indian Constitution and stabilizing the Right to Dignity of Life being accessible to them and their off-springs as well, which also led the Court of highest virtue in India to contemplate on regulation of Prostitution in Indian Jurisdiction.
Transitioning the present Criminal Appeal into a Suo Moto action by the Apex Court, it proved to be a progressive step in recognizing the rights of the sex workers in India. For the constitution not only safeguards but safeguards their right as equally as the rights of other citizens in respect to the profession carried out and the dignified life rightful so lived by them.
