Overview
- A two‑judge bench led by Justices J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan issued the binding judgment on May 29 establishing a nationwide Victim Protection Plan covering rescue, identification, prosecution, rehabilitation, and inter‑agency coordination.
- The Court requires a mandatory threshold inquiry before using rescue or detention powers so that adult sex workers’ consent and autonomy are given primacy except where clear safety risks or coercion are shown.
- For victims who are children the judgment makes clear POCSO applies and consent is legally irrelevant, allowing POCSO provisions to be invoked alongside trafficking and other criminal laws.
- The plan sets minimum rehabilitation standards for shelter homes, mental‑health support, vocational training, legal aid, compensation and reintegration, and it directs coordination among Anti‑Human Trafficking Units, Child Welfare Committees, One Stop Centres and police while refusing to create a new national investigative agency.
- The Court put implementation under judicial oversight and ordered the Union and all states to report compliance when the matter is relisted for monitoring after three months, a step that could reshape how rescues, prosecutions and rehabilitations affect survivors on the ground.