The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has dismissed a request for protection to run a brothel for “consensual sexual activity”, and imposed a fine of ₹ 10,000 on the petitioner.

The petitioner, Raja Murrugan, who claims to be a lawyer, was arrested by the Kanniyakumari police under the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act and POCSO for offering consensual sexual activity through sex workers or volunteers.

His trust had offered “counselling, oil bath for 18-plus for both male and female, consensual sexual activity for both men and women either through sex workers or members volunteering on their own” among other services.

The petitioner argued that the police crackdown was against a Supreme Court order, but the court ruled that the petitioner had misunderstood the context of the judgement in the case of Budhadeb Karmakar vs State of West Bengal.

The order, the court said, was passed “for the purpose of prevention of trafficking and rehabilitation of sex workers, who wish to leave sex work and the conditions conducive for sex workers, who wish to continue sex working as sex workers with dignity.”

The court clarified that while voluntary sex work is not illegal, running a brothel is unlawful. It also ordered the trial court to complete the trial in six months. The court also directed the Bar Council to ascertain the genuineness of the petitioner’s law certificates and proceed accordingly.