Section 98 in THE BHARATIYA NYAYA SANHITA, 2023 – BNS

Selling child for
purposes of
prostitution,
etc.

  1. Whoever sells, lets to hire, or otherwise disposes of any child with intent that such
    child shall at any age be employed or used for the purpose of prostitution or illicit intercourse
    with any person or for any unlawful and immoral purpose, or knowing it to be likely that such
    child will at any age be employed or used for any such purpose, shall be punished with
    imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be
    liable to fine.
    Explanation 1.—When a female under the age of eighteen years is sold, let for hire, or
    otherwise disposed of to a prostitute or to any person who keeps or manages a brothel, the
    person so disposing of such female shall, until the contrary is proved, be presumed to have
    disposed of her with the intent that she shall be used for the purpose of prostitution.
    Explanation 2.—For the purposes of this section “illicit intercourse” means sexual
    intercourse between persons not united by marriage or by any union or tie which, though
    not amounting to a marriage, is recognised by the personal law or custom of the community
    to which they belong or, where they belong to different communities, of both such
    communities, as constituting between them a quasi-marital relation.