Sex is not a crime, but sex work in a public place is a crime
- The victim has two children and it is not appropriate to keep her in a shelter home against her will
- A brothel in Mulund was detained during the raid
- Sent to a shelter home for a year
A sessions court in Mumbai has set aside a magistrate’s order to release a 34-year-old sex worker detained in a shelter home. Additional Sessions Judge C. V. The Patil court held that sex work is a crime only if it disturbs others in a public place. The sex worker had challenged in the Sessions Court the order passed by the Magistrate’s Court on March 15 this year to keep her under detention for one year at a shelter home in Deonar. The sex worker was arrested during a raid in a brothel in Mulund, a suburb of Mumbai, in February. After that, an FIR was registered against three accused including him and they were produced in the Magistrate’s Court in Mazgaon. On perusal of the medical report, the magistrate found the sex worker to be an adult and sent her to a shelter home for one year. The Sessions Court in the judgment noted that there was no evidence that the woman was involved in sex work in public. The order of the Magistrate Court should be set aside.
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