Observing that fundamental rights are guaranteed to every citizen irrespective of vocation, the Supreme Court on India on Tuesday directed the government, all the states and union territories to commence the process of issuing voter, identity (Aadhar) and ration cards to an estimated 900,000 sex workers across India and keep providing dry ration to them. The Supreme Court, hearing a plea that has raised the problems faced by sex workers due to the COVID-19 pandemic, has been passing orders for their welfare and on September 29 last year, it had asked the government and others to provide dry ration to them without insisting on their identity proof, PTI news agency reported. 

A bench comprising justices L Nageswara Rao, BR Gavai and BV Nagarathna rued that the directions of the Supreme Court on providing ration cards to the sex workers were passed in 2011, but they are yet to be implemented. "The state governments and UTs were directed to issue ration cards and identity cards to sex workers almost a decade back and there is no reason as to why such directions are not implemented till now," the judges said.

"The fundamental rights are guaranteed to every citizen of the country irrespective of his/her vocation. There is a bounden duty on the government to provide basic amenities to the citizens of the country. The central government, state governments and other authorities are directed to commence the process of issuance of ration cards, voter ID cards and Aadhaar cards immediately," the justices ordered.

In a stern judgment, it directed authorities to take the assistance of the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) and state AIDS control societies who, in turn, will prepare a list of sex workers after verifying the information provided to them by the community-based organisations.

"The status report related to issuance of ration cards, voter ID cards and Aadhaar cards to the sex workers be filed in a period of four weeks from today and in the meanwhile, state governments and UTs are directed to continue distribution of dry ration to sex workers without insisting on ration cards and other proofs of identity as mentioned in earlier orders," it said.

In a significant observation, the judges also asked the government to keep the names and identities of sex workers confidential while preparing the various ID cards.

The Supreme Court was hearing a plea filed by NGO Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee, which has highlighted the destitution faced by sex workers on account of COVID-19, and sought relief measures for over 900,000 female and transgender sex workers across India.