LexBUDHADEV KARMASKAR versus STATE OF WEST BENGAL
Open in Lexace · Ask the AI about this caseJudgment (excerpt)
[2011] 2 S.C.R. 925 BUDHAOEV KARMASKAR v. STATE OF WEST BENGAL (Criminal Appeal No. 135 of 2010) FEBRUARY 14, 2011 [MARKANDEY KAT JU AND GYAN SUDHA MISRA, JJ.] A B Penal Code, 1860 - s. 302 - Brutal murder of a sex worker - Conviction and sentence u/s. 302, by the courts below - Justification of - Held: Justified - Injuries show C brutality of the crime - Head of the deceased was battered again and again in a hideous and barbaric manner - Testimony of the eye-witnesses corroborates the medical evidence - Accused having committed murder in a brutal manner of a helpless woman, deserves no sympathy - Thus, D order of conviction upheld - Crime against women. Constitution of India, 1950 - Article 21 - Sex workers/ prostitutes - Right to live with dignity under Article 21 - Held: Sex workers/prostitutes are entitled to live with dignity under E Article 21 - Since they are human beings, their problems . need to be addressed - No one has right to assault or murder them - Direction to the Central and the State Governments to prepare schemes for giving technical/vocational training to sex workers and sexually abused women in all cities in India. F CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Criminal Appeal No. 135 of 2010. From the Judgment & Order dated 25.7.2007 of the High Court at Calcutta in C.R.A. No. 487 of 2004. · Lajja Ram for the Appellant. T.C. Sharma, Neelam Sharma for the Respondent. 925 G H 926 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (2011) 2 S.C.R. A The following Order of the Court was delivered ORDER Heard learned counsel for the appellant. B This Appeal has been filed against the impugned judgment and order dated 25th July, 2007 passed by the High Court of Calcutta in C.R.A. No. 487 of 2004. The facts have been set out in the impugned judgment and C hence we are not repeating the same here except wherever necessary. This is a case of brutal murder of a sex worker. Sex workers are also human beings and no one has a right to assault or murder them. A person becomes a prostitute not D because she enjoys it but because of poverty. Society must have sympathy towards the sex workers and must not look down upon them. They are also entitled to a life of dignity in view of Article 21 of the Constitution. E In the novels and stories of the great Bengali Writer Sharat Chand Chattopadhyaya, many prostitutes have been shown to be women of very high character, e.g., Rajyalakshmi in 'Shrikant', Chandramukhi in 'Devdas' etc. The plight of prostitutes has been depicted by the great Urdu poet Sahil F Ludhianvi in his poem 'Chakle' which has been sung in the Hindi film Pyasa "Jineh Naaz Hai Hind Per wo kahan hain" (simplified version of the verse 'Sana Khwan- e-taqdees-e- Mashrik Kahan Hain'). We may also refer to the character Sonya Marmelodov in G Dostoyevsky's famous novel 'Crime and Punishment'. Sonya is depicted as a girl who sacrifices her body to earn some bread for her impoverished family. Reference may also be made to Amrapali, who was a H contemporary of Lord Buddha. BUDHADEV KARMASKAR v. STATE OF WEST 927 . BENGAL ' In the present case, the incident happened on 17th A September, 1999 at about 9.15 p.m. The deceased Chayay Rani Pal alias Buri was living in a red light area and was aresident of Room No.8 of Premises No.19, Jogen Dutta Lane in Calcutta. She was evidently a sex worker. The appellant Budhadev kicked her with fists and legs, and she fell down on B the floor. The appellant then caught her by her hair and banged her head against the floor and the wall several times which left the victim bleeding from her ear, nose and head. The incident was witnessed by four persons, Pw2-Abida, PW4- Maya, PW7- Asha and PW8-Parvati. c PW2-Abida has deposed that she saw the appellant- accused catching the victim by her hair and banging her head against the wall. The victim was profusely bleeding through her nose and mouth. On seeing this, Abida started shouting and then the accused pushed her and went down and fled away. D PW8-Paivati saw the victim being mercilessly beaten by the accused-appellant, and the same is the evidence of PW7-Asha. In the post mortem, as many as 11 injuries on the body of the victim were found, eight of which were on various parts of the face and forehead. E The police was informed about the incident over the telephone as is evident from the testimony of PW2 Abida. After the police arrived on the spot, sample of the blood sp
Excerpt shown. Read the full judgment & AI analysis in Lexace.