Sitting amid the blackened remains of his home, 32-year-old Nikesh Gawali carefully broke open a half-melted plastic box with a screwdriver. His hands shook slightly, not out of fear, but out of hope. “I’m trying to find my daughter Aarti’s gold earrings,” he said quietly, still focused on the box. “She’s just five. I got them made recently after months of labour work.” The plastic box, warped and blackened by heat, was one of the few things left from his two-room house on the outskirts of Dhamangaon village . All around him lay ash, broken tin sheets and charred wooden beams. The walls had cracked under the heat and the front room’s tin roof had caved in completely. What remained was a blackened debris all around - almost nothing to suggest a home once stood there. Nikesh earns his living as an agricultural labourer, like many in the village. Work is uncertain and depends on the season. Those earrings weren’t just jewellery - they were a small dream, a reward for his hard work,...
THE ‘permanent closure of prostitution in Ganga-Jamuna’ notification issued by Commissioner of Police Amitesh Kumar was challenged before the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court, on Tuesday. The court directed the writ petition to be registered as a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) and allowed the petitioner to make necessary amendments.
The petitioner Mukesh Shahu, through his counsels Adv Chandrashekhar Sakhare and Adv Priti Phadake, challenged the notification of Nagpur Police issued under Section 7(1) (b) of Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act (PITA). The notification declared various religious premises, schools and offices in the red-light area as ‘public places’ and banned prostitution within 200 metres of such places.
The petition said that the notification violated the fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 14, 19 of the Constitution of India. The right to reside in the rooms of the notified areas is a fundamental right of the prostitutes/sex workers and they cannot be prevented from occupying their residence except in accordance of law, it added.
Further, merely because these women were in the prostitution trade, it did not deprive them of their right to life and liberty, prostitution per se, was not a criminal offence and it was only when a prostitute operated within the notified area, the offence was committed. Therefore, prostitutes can reside in the notified area and have a right to carry on their trade outside the notified area, the petitioner stated in the petition.
The petitioner prayed the HC to quash and set aside the notification issued by the CP and direct the respondents (Police/government) to permit the prostitutes of the notified area to move freely and without any restrain or constraint and desist the respondents from entering into their rooms of the prostitutes without their permission or warrant.
The division bench of Justice Sunil Shukre and Justice Anil Pansare directed registration of the petition as a PIL and placed the matter for further review on November 17.
The petitioner Mukesh Shahu, through his counsels Adv Chandrashekhar Sakhare and Adv Priti Phadake, challenged the notification of Nagpur Police issued under Section 7(1) (b) of Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act (PITA). The notification declared various religious premises, schools and offices in the red-light area as ‘public places’ and banned prostitution within 200 metres of such places.
The petition said that the notification violated the fundamental rights guaranteed under Articles 14, 19 of the Constitution of India. The right to reside in the rooms of the notified areas is a fundamental right of the prostitutes/sex workers and they cannot be prevented from occupying their residence except in accordance of law, it added.
Further, merely because these women were in the prostitution trade, it did not deprive them of their right to life and liberty, prostitution per se, was not a criminal offence and it was only when a prostitute operated within the notified area, the offence was committed. Therefore, prostitutes can reside in the notified area and have a right to carry on their trade outside the notified area, the petitioner stated in the petition.
The petitioner prayed the HC to quash and set aside the notification issued by the CP and direct the respondents (Police/government) to permit the prostitutes of the notified area to move freely and without any restrain or constraint and desist the respondents from entering into their rooms of the prostitutes without their permission or warrant.
The division bench of Justice Sunil Shukre and Justice Anil Pansare directed registration of the petition as a PIL and placed the matter for further review on November 17.
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