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‘Child cannot be handed over to mother allegedly using her in prostitution racket’: Karnataka HC keeps 18-year-old in welfare home

The Karnataka High Court noted that it is not understandable how the mother is not charged when there is suspicion that she forced the daughter into the prostitution racket.

3 min readBengaluruJan 21, 2026 12:27 PM IST

Karnataka HC refuses to release prostitution victim to mother despite adult status (Source: File Photo).

The Karnataka High Court Wednesday refused to release a victim of prostitution from the child welfare home, even after she has attained 18 years of age, and grant her custody to her mother, as the woman is suspected of forcing/lending her into the prostitution racket.

A single-judge bench of Justice M Nagaprasanna dismissed the petition filed by the mother challenging a trial court order that rejected her application seeking the release of her daughter from the child welfare home.

The mother had contended that her daughter had attained 18 years of age in January and thus she cannot be kept in the welfare home. The trial court had rejected the application on the ground that the victim was forced into prostitution by her mother.

Arguing before the court, the counsel for the mother primarily relied on Section 17 (2) of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, which pertains to intermediate custody of victims rescued under Section 15 or Section 16 of the Act.

The mother’s counsel argued that the girl cannot be kept in the custody of the state once she attains 18 years, and the mother is entitled to her custody.

Additional State Public Prosecutor (ASPP) B N Jagadeesha opposed the petition, stating that the mother should have been charged for forcing her child into prostitution, which has not been done due to an inadvertent omission. The prosecution argued that previously a crime had been recorded for the same offence, but the child was released in favour of the mother, who then placed her back into the prostitution racket.

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The bench, after going through the arguments, said, “The statement of the victim and others would prima facie indicate that the mother had forced the daughter into prostitution. ASPP is right in contending that when a child is rescued from a prostitution racket and is in custody of the state in a welfare home, an allegation is that the mother is forcing/using the daughter in the prostitution racket. It cannot be that the child should be given to the mother.”

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It added, “It is ununderstandable how the mother is left while filing the chargesheet, notwithstanding the fact that there is a lurking suspicion that she has indulged in lending the daughter into prostitution.”

“I am of the considered view that the child cannot be handed over to the mother who is allegedly using her in the prostitution racket, and therefore the petition, lacking in merits, stands rejected,” the court held.