High Court of Karnataka restated that a customer in a brothel cannot be brought into criminal proceedings.
After hearing the petition filed by a man who was charged in such a case, the single judge bench of Justice M Nagarpasanna said, “It is not in dispute that the petitioner was a customer in the brothel when the search was conducted by the respondent police. A customer, in a brothel, cannot be hauled into criminal proceedings is the consistent view taken by this Court in plethora of cases.”
Sex workers say that the order will help them. Sohel,a sex worker said, “It is a very happy news for us.”
The bench rejected the complaints filed against the petitioner under Sections 3, 4, 5 and 6 of Immoral Traffic Prevention Act, 1956 (‘Act’ for short) and Section 370 of the IPC.
Prajjwal Sharma, an advocate said that the law always punishes the seller and does not hold the buyer responsible unless his intentions are illegal. He explained that the person who is engaged in the business is always charged for carrying out an illegal business.
