Those used to getting away scot-free after raids on brothels will now be charged under section 370A of the Indian Penal code (IPC) after a ruling by Justice U Durga Prasad Rao of the Hyderabad High Court.
According to a report in The Times of India, the judge said that customers of brothels could not be seen as “victims” and directed a magistrate at the trial court in Miyapur of Ranga Reddy district to slap IPC 370/A on a customer.
The report mentions that the judge then ordered the judicial registrar of the court to circulate a copy of the judgement to the DGP’s of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana to aid the in enforcement.
The case which led to the verdict was that of S Naveen Kumar, who was caught with a sex worker and a pimp at an apartment in the KPHB area. The police said that while the organiser of the event got away, cases were filed against Naveen, the sex worker and the owner of the place.
The judge reportedly observed that the police were not unaware of section 370/A but had booked Naveen under Prevention of Immoral Traffic Act. The earlier case was quashed by the judge as he said that the section was more stringent.
Section 370A was brought in by the Centre in the aftermath of the Nirbhaya case and according to it, those sexually exploiting trafficked women will serve between three to five years in jail, and seven if the trafficked victim is a minor.
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