Legal provisions regarding Buying of a minor for purposes of prostitution, etc under section 373 of Indian Penal Code, 1860.
Buying of a minor for purposes of prostitution, etc:
Section 373 of the Indian Penal Code provides that: “Whoever buys, hires or otherwise obtains possession of any person under the age of eighteen years, with intent that such person shall at any age be employed or used for the purpose of prostitution or illicit intercourse with any person or for any unlawful and immoral purpose, or knowing it to be likely that such person will at any age be employed or used for any such purpose, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine.
Image Source: 185.26.182.219
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Explanation I:-
Any prostitute or any person keeping or managing a brothel, who buys, hires or otherwise obtains possession of a female under the age of eighteen years shall, until the contrary is proved, be presumed to have obtained possession of such female with the intent that she shall be used for the purpose of prostitution.
Explanation II:-
ADVERTISEMENTS:
“Illicit intercourse” has the same meaning as in Section 372.”
While Section 372 provides punishment for selling a person under the age of 18 years of either sex for the purpose of prostitution, illicit intercourse or for any other immoral purpose, Section 373 provides punishment for a person who buys such a minor person.
While Section 372 covers all the parties who sell or let including father, mother or natural guardians, Section 373 deals with keepers of brothels and ail others who earn profits arising from the general prostitution of girls.
Because of offence under Section 372 which covers disposing of a girl necessarily involves two parties to the transaction and it is not necessary that an offence under Section 373 which covers obtaining of possession must involve two parties.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
The term ‘possession’ means something more than the obtaining of possession of a girl by a man for a single act of sexual intercourse. It denotes definite control over the person of whom possession is obtained. It indicates possession with a power of disposal.
Section 373 merely specifies the objects of the possession, namely, the prostitution or illicit intercourse; it does not specify the nature, duration or intensity of the possession. So where a brothel keeper allowed a girl under eighteen years of age to visit the brothel for two or three hours in the night and allowed her to prostitute herself to customers for money, the brothel keeper is guilty of an offence under Section 373.
The offence under Section 373 is cognizable, non-bailable, non- compoundable and is triable by the Court of Session.