Right to Equality, Dignity and Constitutional Morality: The Status of Sex Workers In India

The Indian Constitution1 gives equal rights to all citizens under Article 14 and promises life and personal liberty under Article 21. However, there is still a class of citizens being deprived of their basic right to dignity, The Sex workers of India. Sex workers face discrimination and exploitation in areas of special concern to them, such as health care, earnings for their services and obtaining financial credit. In India, sex workers are subjected to frequent harassment and police detention, even when, according to the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act of 1986, sex work is in itself not illegal until practised independently and privately. Yet they are being subjected to outcast socio-legal treatment in a democratic nation. This situation has only become worse because of HIV/AIDS epidemic. For the general population, health care professionals recommend HIV tests in case of recurring fever, diarrhoea or an STD is present. For Sex Workers, however, HIV tests are recommended for every single episode of illness, which makes them feel stigmatised, marginalised and discriminated against based on the status of their health. A study conducted in the state of Andhra Pradesh indicated a significant association between custodial abuse of sex workers and increased risk of HIV transmission and inconsistent use of condoms. This paper revolves around the duty of the state towards sex workers of the country and it further dives into the violation of their basic human and fundamental rights, which are, although applicable as under Part III of the Indian Constitution, but on the ground, they are deprived of their basic rights, paper would also cover rights and conditions of Sex Workers in various nations and investigate the sustenance of constitutional morality in those countries. Furthermore, the paper argues for the rights of sex workers in India, backed by the Indian constitutional reasoning of why sex workers deserve equal rights like any human in a society where constitutional morality prevails.