In a significant ruling, the Bombay High Court Observed that prostitution, by itself, is neither a criminal offence under law, nor punishable. The court set aside lower courts’ orders that detained three women in a corrective home for almost a year and ordered their immediate release. The court further held that the law only penalizes sexual exploitation or abuse of a person for "commercial purpose" and to earn the bread thereby, except where a person is carrying on prostitution in a public place.