Archive · 2 Sep 2026
Orissa High Court Says Brothel Customers Cannot Face Trafficking Charges
The Orissa High Court considered a case involving two men found at a spa centre.
The men were accused of offences connected with prostitution and trafficking.
The court said that simply paying for services at a brothel is not itself listed as a crime under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act.
The law instead focuses on people who run brothels, profit from prostitution, recruit people or hold them there.
The court therefore removed an earlier order requiring the men to face trial for those offences.
The men had first been arrested in 2018.
Another court, the Kerala High Court, recently reached the opposite conclusion.
This means different high courts have expressed different views about whether customers can be prosecuted under the law.
The Orissa High Court ruled that merely being a customer in a brothel does not attract prosecution under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956.
Justice Sibo Sankar Mishra said the Act penalises brothel management, living on prostitution earnings, procuring, inducing and detaining individuals, but does not specifically punish customers.
The ruling concerned two men arrested in 2018 while allegedly availing services at a spa centre.
The court deleted its earlier direction requiring the men to face trial for remaining offences under the Act.
The Kerala High Court recently took the opposite view, holding that a paying customer can be treated as an active participant in prohibited activity.
- Who
- Justice Sibo Sankar Mishra ruled in a case involving two men who were customers at a spa centre.
- What
- The Orissa High Court held that a customer cannot be prosecuted under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act merely for being found in a brothel, even in a compromising position.
- When
- The ruling was issued on August 20; the underlying arrests occurred in 2018 and an earlier order was issued on February 9, 2024.
- Where
- The decision was made by the Orissa High Court.
- Why
- The court found that the Act's cited provisions do not prescribe punishment for customers and corrected its earlier direction requiring the men to face trial on those charges.
Customer Not Criminally Liable
Customer Is an Active Participant
Interpretation of the Act
Customer Not Criminally Liable
The Orissa High Court said the Act does not prescribe punishment for a customer merely found in a brothel, even in a compromising position.
Customer Is an Active Participant
The Kerala High Court said a person who voluntarily enters a brothel and pays for sexual services can be treated as an active participant in the prohibited activity.
Scope of Sections 3 to 7
Customer Not Criminally Liable
The provisions primarily target brothel operators, people living on prostitution earnings, procurers, and those who detain individuals; they do not specifically cover customers.
Customer Is an Active Participant
The Kerala High Court found no justification for immunising an essential participant in the prohibited activity from criminal liability.
- Law involved
- Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956
- Petitioners
- Two men arrested while allegedly availing services at a spa centre
- Arrest year
- 2018
- Earlier judgment
- The Orissa High Court's February 9, 2024 judgment quashed charges under IPC Sections 370(3) and 370A(2) but retained other charges for trial.
- Latest action
- The court deleted the portion of the earlier order requiring trial for the remaining offences alleged in the chargesheet.
- Contrary ruling
- The Kerala High Court held on August 11 that a customer who pays for sexual services can be treated as an active participant under the Act.
- Sections discussed
- Sections 3 to 7 concern brothel management, prostitution earnings, procuring, detention and prostitution in or near public places.