REPORTABLE

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 135 OF 2010

Budhadev Karmaskar ..Appellant

versus

State of West Bengal ..Respondents

O R D E R

Heard learned counsel for the appellant.

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 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  

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.

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.   

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The plight of prostitutes has been depicted by the great  

Urdu poet Sahil 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 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  

contemporary of Lord Buddha.

In the present case, the incident happened on 17th  

September, 1999 at about 9.15 p.m.  The deceased Chayay Rani  

Pal alias Buri was living in a red light area and was a  

resident 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 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.   

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.  

PW8-Parvati saw the victim being mercilessly beaten by the  

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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.

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  

spilled  from  the  body  of  the  victim  was  collected  and  

photographs taken.  The victim was brought by Asha Khatoon  

and others to the hospital where she was found 'dead on  

arrival'.  Blood was oozing out from her ear and nostril.  

There was swelling on the left eyeball and left eyebrow.  

Thus,  the  medical  evidence  corroborates  the  ocular  

testimony.   

PW10-Dr. Amitava Das, the Medical Officer who held  

the post mortem examination of the dead body of deceased  

Chhaya Rani Pal found the following injuries on her person:

1) Abrasion 1” x ½ “ over the nose just below  the nasal bridge.

2) Abrasion ½ “ x ½ “ over left side forehead ½  “ above left eyebrow 3” left to midline.  

3) Abrasion  ½  “  x  ½  “  over  left  side  of  forehead just over the left eye brow 2” left  mid line.

4) Bruise 2” x 1” over left upper eye lid. 5) Bruise 2” x 1” over anterior aspect of mid  

part of nose. 6) Abrasion  ½  “  x  ¼  “  over  right  side  of  

forehead 1” above right eye brow 2” right to  mid line.

7) Abrasion  2” x  1” over  right side  of face  just below the right eye and just right to  outer canthus of right eye.

8) Lacerated wound ½ “ x ¼ “ x scalp over left  partial region 4 ½ “ left to anterior mid  line and 2” below left parietal eminence.

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9) Abrasion  3”  x  ½  “  over  posteriorateral  aspect  of  right  forehead  1”  below  right  elbow.

10)Abrasion  1”  x  ½  “  over  anterior  medial  aspect  of  lower  part  of  right  forearm  1”  above right wrist.

11)Abrasion  4”  x  3”  over  upper  part  of  posterior  aspect  of  right  thigh  7”  above  right knee joint.

On  dissection,  the  Doctor  found  the  following  

injuries:

1) Heamatoma 3 ½ “ x 2” in the scalp tissue  over right frontal region.

2) Heamatoma 3 ½ ” x 2” in the scalp tissue  over left frontal region.

3) Haematoma 3 ½ “ x ½ “ in the scalp tissue  over left partial region.

4) Fissured  fracture  3”  long  more  or  loss  longitudinal  over  left  parietal  temporal  bone.

5) Haematoma 2” x 1” in the scalp tissue over  right parietal region.

6) Subdural  hemorrhage  present  involving  the  right parietal and temporal lobe.

7) Lacerated wound ½ “ (half) x ¼ “ x substance  over right parietal lobe of brain substance.  The  abrasions  were  non-scabbed  and  red  in  colour.   The  bruises  were  dark  red  in  colour. The margins of the lacerated wounds  were irregular and red in colour.  All the  injuries showed signs of vital reactions. No

other injury except those described could be  detected  even  on  careful  dissection  and  examination.

PW10  Dr.  Amitava  Das,  Medical  Officer  of  Mauza  

Burdwan Medical College, opined that the death was due to  

the effect of the injuries as noted anti-mortem in nature;  

that  all  the  injuries  as  noted  in  the  post  mortem  

examination  report  might  be  caused  if  a  person  pushed  

against the wall and it may be homicidal in nature.”

The injuries above-mentioned show the brutality of  

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the crime. The head of the deceased was battered again and  

again in a hideous and barbaric manner.   

The trial Court has rightly convicted the appellant  

under Section 302 IPC and sentenced him to life imprisonment  

and the High Court has not committed any error in upholding  

the conviction and sentence imposed by the trial Court.

We find no reason to disbelieve the testimony of the  

eye witnesses in this case, namely, PW2, PW7 and PW8 which  

corroborates the medical evidence. The appellant-accused has  

committed murder in a brutal manner of  a helpless women and  

deserves no sympathy from this Court.

For  the  reasons  given  above,  this  appeal  is  

dismissed.

Although we have dismissed this Appeal, we strongly  

feel  that  the  Central  and  the  State  Governments  through  

Social  Welfare  Boards  should  prepare  schemes  for

rehabilitation  all  over  the  country  for  physically  and  

sexually abused women commonly known as prostitutes  as we  

are of the view that the prostitutes also have a right to  

live with dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution of  

India since they are also human beings and their problems  

also need to be addressed.   

As already observed by us, a woman is compelled to  

indulge  in  prostitution  not  for  pleasure  but  because  of  

abject poverty. If such a woman is granted opportunity to  

avail  some technical or vocational training, she would be  

able to earn her livelihood by such vocational training and  

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skill  instead of by selling her body.

Hence,  we  direct  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.   The schemes should  

mention in detail who will give the technical/vocational  

training and in what manner they can be rehabilitated and  

settled  by  offering  them  employment.  For  instance,  if  a  

technical training is for some craft like sewing garments,  

etc.  then  some  arrangements  should  also  be  made  for  

providing a market for such garments, otherwise they will  

remain unsold and unused, and consequently the women will

not be able to feed herself.

We propose to have the response of the Centre and  

the States in this regard and hence the case  shall be  

listed before us again on 04.05.2011 to be taken up as  

first  case  on  which  date  the  first  compliance  report  

indicating therein the first steps taken by the Central and  

the State Governments in this regard shall be submitted.  

Issue notice to the Central Government and all the  

State Governments which will also file responses by the  

date fixed for hearing.

...........................J. [MARKANDEY KATJU]

NEW DELHI; ...........................J. FEBRUARY 14, 2011 [GYAN SUDHA MISRA]