HC refuses to quash case against man who claimed to be brothel client

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: The High Court of Karnataka has refused to quash a case under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act against a man who claimed he was a customer in a brothel and should be let off.

On earlier occasions, the courts let off customers arrested in raids on brothels and charged under the ITP. In this case, though, the HC said that “It is in those cases under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, those customers have been let off the hook.

The case at hand is not one of that kind. The offences do not stop at POCSO but even under the Information Technology Act for having threatened the victim that her videos would be uploaded on multiple websites.”

The court said that his submission that he is a customer and “should be absolved and not liable to be prosecuted under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act and, therefore, should be let off is again unacceptable as it is not a case where the alleged victim was above 18 years and it is not a case that the police have conducted a search and unearthed any incident in a particular place which has been used to run a racket of prostitution.”

A 17-year-old girl from Chikmagaluru, studying in Mangaluru had filed a complaint against certain people, including the accused in the present case, for forcing her into prostitution and sexual assaults by several people. She escaped from the clutches of the people holding her in a house and filed a complaint with the police.

“She is a victim of sexual abuse and has registered the said complaint. Therefore, the learned senior counsel cannot draw a parallel to a search being conducted on a spa, brothel or a lodge where the customer is found to have indulged in such activity with the victim,” Justice M Nagaprasanna said in his judgement. The police have registered multiple cases on the issue.

The accused, who approached the High Court also sought the dismissal of the case as multiple cases have been filed in the same incident. However, the court rejected this contention because though the victim was the same, the criminal acts on her were different.

“Merely because the victim is the same, it cannot be said that only one crime should have been registered and all of them should be put in one basked as accused in the said crime,” the HC said.