PEOPLE TALK SO MUCH

Makes me wonder why some people talk like that from public podiums. Once the Gyavaapi news happened there have been a number of jokes on the digging and some of them actually make you smile. But when the BJP leader like Bandi Sanjay Kumar, an MP from Karimnagar, and also the state president of the BJP in Telangana, talks and tries to provoke, it is not a healthy trend. On his Ekta yatra, which is commendable considering the heat, he said "Dig all mosques to find Shiva Lingas,,,,," He also added some more to the statement which is not worth quoting here. What upset me more, personally, was that PM Narendra Modi did not pull him up or even mention it in the passing. Of course he was busy trying to end family rule with his speech. And since the CM KCR was once again avoiding meeting the PM, the entire focus of the news changed. 

Surprisingly there was no scathing reply from either Owaisi brothers. 

I am only worried that between the CM and his son while we are becoming some look alike Western town, Bandi will be busy tarnishing the Ganga Jamni tehzeeb of the old city of Hyderabad. 

Chalo, these are mere mortals and they will talk like this to get some TRP rating, but the much lauded judiciary is also passing orders in all their wisdom. Highly esteemed they and their orders are not to be taken lightly and therefore it was extremely shocking to read a headline which said that the Supreme Court recognises sex work as a `profession.' Adding that the practitioners of this `job' are entitled to dignity and equal protection under law. They go on to add that the police should neither interfere nor take criminal action against adult and consenting sex workers.

Here, I would like to ask who decides whether these women have got into the `profession' willingly or by force. Surely the police cannot decide whether the woman is in this `profession' by force or if  she has been lured into it within the given period of time.  And I really would like to know which woman will get into the `profession' willingly? Which woman would take this up as a job and think it as dignified?

And they put all this under Article 21 of the Constitution where every individual in our country has a right to dignified life. A three-judge bench said that if the sex worker is an adult, she is participating with consent. But at the same time as I read through the order, I realised that the entire order is on the presumption of high thinking men that `prostitution' is a dignified job, if it has the consent of an adult woman.

Apparently the SC has issued directions relating to the rehabilitation meansures of sex workers and other connected issues. While most of the directions seem to have been given only to the police, for it says that since the profession is not unlawful, the sex workers concerned should not be arrested or penalised or harassed or victimised and goes on  to say that the police and other law enforcement agencies should be sensitised to the rights of sex workers who as citizen of the country also enjoy all basic human rights and other rights guaranteed in the constitution to all citizens. 

Incidentally the I read through Budhadev Karmaskar case file and after seven and a half pages of names of advocates, the order reveals itself. 

Rehabilitation is not an easy job. It takes days and sometimes months before the women understand that they stand to benefit. While dignity definitely comes at a cost, once the women are trained and get a taste of a `dignified job' they get to the grinding stone and work hard at the job and building a family. If I read it correctly the honourable court has said that these women must be allowed to leave if they want to. Really?

Who gives anybody a job without any skill, be it a man or a woman? And where will these women go looking for a job? Or for that matter where will they take shelter if the women decide that they did not want to exercise their freedom as a `sex worker' and would like to return to the family fold. 

There is a need to relook at the order or so I think.