Landlord not liable if rented property used for immoral activity without prior knowledge: K’taka HC

Bengaluru: A landlord whose property was used as a brothel without his knowledge cannot be prosecuted under the law, held Karnataka High Court recently.

A single-judge bench of Justice N Nagaprasanna quashed the criminal proceedings against a landlord, on the ground that he was not aware that his property was being used to run a brothel, Bar and Bench reported.

“In the light of Section 3(2)(b) of the (Immoral Traffic Prevention Act) and the police themselves acknowledging that the petitioner was not aware of what was happening in the premises, permitting further proceedings to continue against the petitioner would degenerate into harassment and become an abuse of the process of law,” the Court said delivering the verdict in the Prabhuraj v State of Karnataka case.

The petition was filed by the owner of the residential premises, which had been let out through a rent agreement between the parties. Police had later found that the tenant running a brothel in the rented space. The police, however, filed a charge sheet against the owner of the house under Section 3 of the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act, upon which the petitioner approached the High Court.

The court noted that the petitioner lived far away and had also clearly stated that he was not aware that the premise was being used for immoral activities, which the police also acknowledged in the charge sheet filed against him.