Madras High Court: The Madras High Court expressed surprise at a petition filed by a petitioner seeking protection for running a brothel in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu. The petitioner described himself as a practicing lawyer. The lawyer had filed this petition seeking quashing of the FIR registered against him.
According to a report by Live Law, a bench of Justice B Pugalendhi expressed strong disapproval of the petitioner’s defence of his actions on the basis of adult consensual sexual rights. Along with this, the High Court asked the Bar Council to ensure that only graduates from reputed law colleges are enrolled as advocates.
‘Ban on admissions from non-reputed institutions’
The Madras High Court dismissed the plea of the lawyer and imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on him. According to Live Law, the bench said, “Now the time has come that the Bar Council will have to realise that the prestige of lawyers is declining in the society. At least then the Bar Council will ensure that the members are enrolled only from reputed institutions and enrollment from non-reputed institutions of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and other states is prohibited.”
The court was hearing two petitions filed by advocate Raja Murugan. In these, he had demanded cancellation of the FIR registered against him and issuance of an order to stop police interference in his business activities.
High court reached to demand running of brothel
Murugan revealed before the court that he runs a trust that provides services such as consensual sex between adults, counselling and therapeutic oil baths for persons above 18 years of age.
Responding to the petitions, the High Court said that Murugan has misunderstood the Supreme Court’s decision in the Budhadev case. The High Court said that the Supreme Court had addressed the Budhadev case to prevent trafficking and ensure rehabilitation of sex workers. On the contrary, Murugan exploited a minor girl and took advantage of her poverty.
High Court ordered to investigate the law degree
Aggrieved by the petition, the court also demanded that Murugan produce his enrolment papers and law degree to verify his legal education and membership of the Bar Association.
The additional public prosecutor (APP) told the court that “Murugan is a B.Tech graduate and has a Bar Council identity with enrollment number. However, he is unable to verify whether he has studied any law.”
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