India, Oct. 4 -- Calling a victim an alleged illegal immigrant does not make the offence against her any less serious, the Bombay High Court has said while upholding the two-year prison sentence of a woman convicted of running a Grant Road brothel.

"Just because the victim is an illegal immigrant, the offence does not become any less," a single-judge bench of Justice M M Sathaye observed on October 1, rejecting a plea by Rani Singh, who challenged her 2015 conviction under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 (PITA).

"Just because a victim is an illegal immigrant (assuming her to be so), the court cannot consider it as a reason for not convicting the perpetrator. Being an illegal immigrant will have its own legal consequences, no ...