India, Sept. 9 -- 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.

A person utilising the services at a brothel cannot be termed a 'customer', as a sex worker is not a 'product', the bench of justice V.G. Arun said while hearing a petition filed by a man who was charged under Sections 3 (punishment for keeping a brothel), 4 (punishment for living partly/wholly on the earnings of another person's prostitution), 5(1)(d) (inducing a person to carry on prostitution), and 7 (punishment for prostitution in or near public places) of the Immoral Traffic ...