High Court directs regulation of homestays across the state

Bengaluru, Jun. 11: The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday directed the state government to regulate homestays while hearing a petition filed by the owner of a homestay in Kodagu district, where an American tourist was allegedly raped two months ago.

Justice M. Nagaprasanna, who was hearing the petition, said, “Homestays need to be regulated; they have grown like mushrooms, we do not know where they are and what happens there. Everyone’s safety is at risk.”

The resort owner, who was arrested along with his worker on April 22, had sought quashing of the case against him and declaring his arrest illegal and giving him Rs 15 lakh compensation for his illegal arrest.

On April 12, the homestay worker was accused of sexually assaulting a 33-year-old American tourist after consuming alcohol. The matter came to the notice of the police after the woman informed the US embassy officials when she was leaving the homestay for Mysore.

Based on a complaint from an American guest, the resort worker and the resort owner, who were accused of sexually assaulting a foreigner, were arrested on April 19. The district court later granted bail to the homestay owner on May 2. However, the worker's bail application was rejected on June 4. The accused were charged with conspiracy to commit an offence under sections 64(1) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 351(2) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), 238, and 239 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and giving false information.

Advocate Angad Kamat, appearing for the petitioner, argued that the woman had given the accused's description in her complaint "about the allegation of sexual assault on her". "The CCTV footage evidence clearly shows that the owner was not present at the place at the time of the alleged incident," he argued.

"Since there is no charge of rape against him, all the other offences charged are bailable offences. He said that the police arrested him because there was only one charge in the FIR, and that he suffered severe humiliation and humiliation of his dignity and respect. He was arrested illegally and his fundamental rights were violated. Therefore, he has sought a compensation of Rs 15 lakh, the lawyer for the resort owner had argued.

Kamath said that the homestay owner was suffering losses as the homestay booking website informed the owner that it would remove the homestay from its list after the incident. "If this trend continues, no one will be able to do business in India," he said. However, Additional State Public Prosecutor B.N. Jagadeesh opposed this argument. "We are not saying there was a common intention to commit rape, we are saying there was a common intention to destroy evidence, we are saying there was a common intention to intimidate witnesses," he said.

Citing the victim's chat messages, Jagadeesh said the complainant had told her parents about the sexual assault. "The victim had also collected the tissues used by the accused after the crime. It is not correct that the victim vacated the homestay happily after the incident. The fact that the victim wanted to shift to a tent house after the incident suggests that she wanted to stay locked inside as she was attacked twice by two different people," he said. Jagadeesh further told the court, "On the basis of his arrest, we have not said that he (the resort owner) committed rape. We have only said that he is the person running the homestay, so there are possibilities of destroying evidence and intimidating the witness." The petitioners sought a reason for their arrest.

While reserving the order, the bench adjourned the hearing of the case, saying, "This offence is serious, we will see what your role is and pass further orders."

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