The Kerala High Court has ruled that failing to arrange departure tickets for a female employee and requesting her to share a hotel room constitutes trafficking and sexual harassment under Section 370 and Section 354A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), respectively.

The verdict was delivered by Justice A. Badharudeen, who dismissed a petition from the accused, seeking to quash the ongoing criminal proceedings against him.

The case emerged from a complaint lodged by a woman employee who was sent from Mumbai to Chennai for an official meeting on May 31, 2019. After requesting a flight back to Mumbai on the same day to attend another meeting the following morning, her Managing Director (MD) instead booked her a flight for the next day and arranged for her to stay in a hotel.

Allegedly, the MD then demanded that the employee share a room with him and solicited sexual favors, which she firmly rejected.

The defense, led by Advocate Roshin Ipe Joseph, argued that the allegations did not meet the criteria for sexual harassment or trafficking as defined by the IPC, contending that the complainant was in Chennai for official purposes without any coercion or exploitation. The defense also referenced a prior Kerala High Court ruling in ‘Imthiyaz Ahammed v. State of Kerala’, which emphasized that Section 370 requires clear evidence of coercion or exploitation, elements that the petitioner claimed were absent in this case.

Conversely, the prosecution, represented by Senior Public Prosecutor Renjit George, contended that the accused's actions supported the charges, as the complainant's movements were being controlled and exploited.

Upon reviewing the definitions of trafficking and sexual harassment within the IPC, the court noted that Section 370(1) addresses trafficking for exploitation through coercion and deception. Given the circumstances, the court determined that the accused's failure to secure the complainant’s departure and his demand for her to share a room indicated a reasonable basis for the trafficking charge.