Mumbai: A sessions court has considered the "fundamental right" as adults of four commercial sex workers and ordered their release from a government institution in Kolkata where they were detained against their will upon a city magistrate's order.
The four women, aged between 26 and 39, were rescued in a raid conducted by the DB Marg police station last year. Initially, they were detained in a Deonar women's shelter home for trafficking victims.
Magistrate court had ordered care, protection, and vocational training for the women
In January this year, a Mazgaon metropolitan magistrate, by order, directed their detention for a year for their care, protection, and to provide them vocational training. The superintendent of the Deonar home was directed to make arrangements to send them to a Kolkata shelter home as they belonged to West Bengal. They were then detained in a state-government-run shelter home in Howrah, Kolkata.
The four women had moved the sessions court against the order seeking their release from the institution. The prosecution sought that the women be detained at the home for their rehabilitation. The advocate representing the women had submitted that the magistrate had not taken the assistance of a panel comprising five persons, as is required, before coming to the decision. It was also argued that all the women were adults and could not be forced to live against their will at the institution.
Court: Victims cannot be subjected to unnecessary detention
The sessions court relied on a Bombay High Court order, which held that victims being adults, it is their fundamental right to move freely, reside at the place of their choice, and choose their vocation, which has to be considered. It had said that they cannot be subjected to unnecessary detention contrary to their wishes.
The sessions court said that from the order passed by the magistrate, it appears that the magistrate made an inquiry with the victims and came to know that, for the sake of their livelihood and to support their families, they have involved themselves in sexual acts. Hence, it said that it is clear that victims are involved in such acts of their own choice. It then considered the fundamental rights of the women who are adults while passing the order in their favor.
