India, Sept. 10 -- The Kerala High Court has ruled that a person availing the services of a sex worker in a brothel can be prosecuted under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 as he/she is inducing the sex worker to carry on prostitution by paying money.

The bench of Justice VG Arun opined that a person utilising the services at a brothel cannot be termed as a 'customer' as a sex worker was not a 'product'. In most cases, sex workers are lured into the trade through human trafficking and compelled to offer his/her body to satisfy the carnal pleasure of others, it stressed.

The HC made the ruling while considering the petition filed by a man who was charged under sections 3 (punishment for keeping a brothel), 4 (punishment for liv...