HC refuses anticipatory bail to person accused of running sex racket

Court said allegations against the accused were grave in nature

The Delhi High Court has declined an anticipatory bail plea of a woman accused of running “a racket of illegal sexual activities” from her massage parlour, noting that the allegations against her were grave in nature.

“I have given considered thought to the contentions raised,” Justice Anoop Kumar Mendiratta said, adding, “Considering the evidence on record, it appears that a racket of illegal sexual activities was carried out on the pretext of running a massage parlour and young girls were induced into extending sexual favours”.

“Considering the grave nature of the allegations, no grounds of anticipatory bail are made out,” the judge said in his June 13 order rejecting the anticipatory bail plea.

During the hearing, the prosecution told the High Court that the case was registered on April 12 this year on the complaint of one of the workers at the massage parlour.

The worker, whose statement was recorded in the presence of a Child Welfare Committee (CWC) Counsellor, alleged that a co-accused induced her to provide sexual favours to clients in exchange for a handsome salary.

The prosecution said that the co-accused was communicating with the owner of the massage parlour and had exposed the girls working in the parlour to the clients through video calls.

The owner of the massage parlour in her plea stated that no role was attributed to her in the initial FIR that was registered and that the allegations had only been made against the co-accused. The owner claimed that she had no role in the case.

The FIR in the case was registered by the Adarsh Nagar police station for the alleged commission of offences under sections 370 (trafficking of person), 354-A (sexual harassment), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 34 (common intention) of the India Penal Code.