4 min readBengaluruJun 10, 2026 05:20 PM IST
First published on: Jun 10, 2026 at 04:59 PM IST
The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday orally called for regulating homestays in the state, while reserving its order on a petition filed by the owner of a homestay in Kodagu district, where a US tourist was allegedly raped two months ago.
Justice M Nagaprasanna said, “Homestays need to be regulated; they have mushroomed to such an extent that we don’t know where they are and what happens there. Everybody’s security is at risk.”
The resort owner, who was arrested on April 22 along with his worker, had sought to quash the case against him and declare his arrest illegal, and grant him Rs 15 lakh compensation for illegally arresting him.
The homestay worker allegedly spiked the 33-year-old US tourist’s drink and sexually assaulted her on April 12. According to the police, the incident came to light only in the third week of April, after the survivor, who was travelling solo, alerted officials at the US embassy upon leaving the homestay and heading to Mysore.
Based on the US guest’s complaint, the police arrested the resort owner for protecting the accused resort worker who had sexually assaulted the foreigner, and failing to inform the police about the crime.
The district court earlier granted bail to the homestay owner on May 2, while rejecting the bail plea of the 45-year-old resort worker on June 4.
The accused have been charged for offences under sections 64(1) for rape, 351(2) for criminal intimidation, 238, and 239 for concealing design to commit an offence and giving false information, of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Allegations, evidence
Advocate Angad Kamath, appearing for the petitioner, argued that the woman gave the description of the accused in her complaint, “about who allegedly committed sexual assault on him”. “During the time of the alleged incident, the owner was not present at the property.”
“If the allegation of rape is not against me, then all the other offences admitted are non-cognizable/bailable offences… Merely because there is one cognizable offence in the FIR, you go and arrest me. I have suffered humiliation. The damage compensation of Rs 15 lakh, which I have sought in the petition for the illegal arrest, is not to repair my homestay, but for the loss of my reputation”.
Kamath also said that the homestay owner has been suffering losses because the hotel booking website, on which the homestay is listed, notified the owner that it would delist the property. He added, “If this trend continues, then nobody will be able to do business in India.”
Additional State Public Prosecutor B N Jagadeesha countered the submission. “We are not saying there is a common intention to rape, we are saying common intention to destroy the evidence, we are saying common intention to threaten the witnesses,” he said.
Referring to the chat messages of the victim, Jagadeesha pointed out that the complainant had told her parents about the sexual assault. “The victim had also collected the tissues used by the accused after the commission of the offence. It is not that she happily went out after the incident with the owners and solo trips, etc, the very fact that she shifted from the tent to the house is to say that she wanted to get locked and stay inside because she was subjected to assault twice by two different people,” he said.
Further, Jagadeesha told the court, “In the grounds of arrest, we have not said that he (the resort owner) has committed a rape. We have only said that he is the person running the homestay, so there are chances of destroying the evidence and threatening the witness”.
The petitioner sought the reason for his arrest for a non-cognizable offence.
The bench, while reserving the order, said, “The offence is serious, we will see what your role is and pass orders.”
On Monday, the High Court directed the Karnataka government to produce all the investigation records conducted to date on the rape case.
File photo of the Karnataka High Court. 
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