The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed states and union territories to immediately initiate the process of issuing voter ID cards, Aadhaar and ration cards to sex workers across the country.
A bench headed by Justice L Nageswara Rao said that every person is guaranteed his fundamental rights, irrespective of his profession.
“Fundamental rights are guaranteed to every citizen of the country, irrespective of his occupation. It is the responsibility of the government to provide basic facilities to the citizens of the country. The Central Government, State Governments and other authorities are hereby directed to immediately initiate the process of issuing ration cards, voter ID cards and Aadhar cards,” the court ordered.
The court found that its directions to give ration cards to sex workers a decade ago have not been complied with so far.
“The State Governments and Union Territories were directed to issue ration cards and identity cards to sex workers almost a decade ago and there is no reason why such directions have not been implemented so far,” the bench said.
The court directed that the authorities may seek assistance from the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) and state AIDS control committees, which in turn would prepare a list of sex workers after verifying the information provided to them by community-based organisations.
“Status report regarding issuance of Ration Card, Voter ID and Aadhar Card to sex workers to be filed within a period of four weeks from today and in the meantime, State Governments and Union Territories directed to continue distribution of dry ration for sex workers Are being given. Without insisting on ration cards and other proofs of identity as mentioned in the earlier orders,” the court said.
The apex court had on September 29, 2020 directed the states to provide dry ration to sex workers identified by NACO, without insisting on any proof of identity, and sought a status report on compliance.
“The right to food has been recognized as a human right under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. Although there has been some improvement in the situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are of the view that the State Governments and Union Territories have a constitutional obligation in themselves to provide basic facilities to the citizens of this country to provide sex workers with dry ration. deserves,” the court had said.
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