Kolkata: The Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee, a collective of over 60,000 sex workers in Bengal, has welcomed the landmark judgment by the Supreme Court on May 29 in which it introduced, for the first time, a victim protection plan for those who have suffered commercial sexual exploitation.Under the ruling, trafficking victims will be treated as victims rather than offenders, something that Sunitha Krishnan, the founder of the pioneering anti-trafficking non-governmental organisation Prajwala, has noted is one of the most significant aspects of the ruling.Prajwala is the litigant in this two-decade-long case.The DMSC has echoed Krishnan’s words in noting that conflating trafficking with sex work obscures the lived realities of both trafficked persons and adult women who voluntarily engage in sex work.Their full statement is below.§Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (DMSC) welcomes the judgment delivered by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India on 29 May 2026 in Prajwala vs Union of India. For a movement that has spent more than three decades advocating for the rights, dignity, and self-determination of sex workers, this judgment marks an important step towards a more humane, rights-based, and constitutionally grounded approach to addressing both trafficking and sex work.DMSC emerged from the Sonagachi Project, a community-led HIV intervention that has received international recognition for its success in reducing HIV transmission while promoting the health, rights, and collective empowerment of sex workers. Durbar has always held that adult women engaged in sex work are citizens entitled to the full protection of the Constitution, and that measures intended to combat trafficking must not come at the cost of their agency, dignity, liberty, and autonomy. This was also an important direction issued by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in 2022. The Court’s reaffirmation of these principles in the present judgment is therefore a matter of great significance for thousands of sex workers across India and reflects values that DMSC has consistently upheld throughout its thirty-year journey.Drawing upon the principles articulated in the 2022 Budhadev Karmaskar judgment, in which DMSC was a party, the Supreme Court has once again emphasised that trafficking and consensual adult sex work are distinct realities. DMSC has long argued that conflating trafficking with sex work obscures the lived realities of both trafficked persons and adult women who voluntarily engage in sex work. Such conflation often leads to ineffective interventions, violations of rights, and misplaced policy responses. The Court’s recognition that the rights and dignity of trafficking victims and those of voluntary adult sex workers must both be protected is therefore a welcome and progressive development.The judgment also acknowledges that while victims of trafficking have a right to protection and rehabilitation, such rehabilitation cannot be imposed through coercive rescue, detention, or institutionalisation of consenting adults. The requirement that authorities undertake meaningful inquiries regarding age, consent, and individual circumstances before intervention is an important safeguard against arbitrary actions that have often caused further trauma and disruption in the lives of adult sex workers.DMSC is particularly encouraged by the Victim Protection Plan outlined by the Court. Several of its principles resonate with the work of DMSC’s Self-Regulatory Boards, which have for many years sought to identify minors and trafficked persons, assess individual circumstances, and ensure that all decisions affecting their lives are guided by consent, dignity, and respect for agency.While we wholeheartedly welcome this pathbreaking judgment, we remain conscious that judicial recognition must be accompanied by effective implementation. Sex workers continue to face discrimination and barriers in their interactions with police authorities, welfare institutions, healthcare systems, educational establishments, and financial services. Future reforms concerning sex work, trafficking, rehabilitation, and social protection must be developed with the meaningful participation of sex workers themselves. The principle of “Nothing About Us Without Us” remains central to our vision.We remain committed to working with governments, institutions, civil society organizations, and communities to advance responses that uphold rights, combat trafficking, and promote equality, dignity, and justice for all. The journey towards equality and recognition is far from complete. However, this pathbreaking judgment gives us a chance to move ahead with confidence.