The High Court · 2025

Petition under Section 528 of BNSS praying that in the circumstances stated in the Memorandum of Grounds of Criminal Petition, the High Court may be pleased to quash the proceedings in SC.No.24912024 on the file of the Senior Civil Judge-Cum-Asst. Sessions Judge at Kukatpally, Ranga Reddy District. I l.A. NO: 1OF 2025 Petition under Section 528 of BNSS praying that in the circumstances stated in the Memorandum of Grounds of Criminal Petition, the High Court may be pleased to stay all further proceedings including appearance of petitioner in SC.No.24912024 on the file of the Senior Civil Judge-Cum-Asst. Sessions Judge at Kukatpally, Ranga Reddy District, during the pendency of Criminal Petition. This Petition coming on for hearing, upon perusing the Memorandum of Grounds of Criminal Petition and upon hearing the arguments of Sri P Animi Reddy, Advocate for the Petitioner and Sri Jithender Rao Veeramlla, Additional Public Prosecutor on behalf of the Respondent No.1 . The Court made the following Order : THE HONOURABLE SMT. JUSTICE JTIWADI SRIDEVI CRIMINAL PETITION No.134 of 2O25 ORDER: This Criminal Petition is fiIed under Section 52g the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (for short 'BNSS) by petitioner-accused No.4 to quash the proceedings against him in SC. No.249 of 2024 on the file of the learned Senior Civil Judge-cum-Assistant Sessions Judge at Kukatpally, Ranga Reddy District. The offences alleged against petitioner are under Section 37O(A)(21 of the Indian Penal Code (for short 'IPC') and Sections 3, 4 and 5 of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 (for short .the Act).

02. Heard Sri P.Animi Reddy, learned counsel for petitioner and Sri Jithender Rao Veeramalla, learned Additional Public Prosecutor for respondent No. 1 _ State and perused the record.

03. In brief, the case of the prosecution is that the Police, Madhapur police Station received credible information about running of brothel house and raided the premises at H.No. l-9516/A162, 6g, Angel SpA, Cyber Hills I 2 'q colony, Madhapur and found that accused No' 1 is orgarizingbrothel house, accused Nos'2 and 3 are brokers and petitioner-accused Nos'4 to 6 are customers of the said brothel house, wherein accused No'4 is the petitioner herein.

04. Learned counsel for petitioner submitted that the woman who was found with petitioner-accused No'4 is not a trafficked woman and petitioner is nothing to do with the alleged offences. The ingredients of the offence under Section 37O(A) of IPC and Sections 3,4 and 5 of the Act does not attract to the present case on hand. Thereby, he prayed to quash the criminal proceedings against petitioner- accused No.4.

05. Learned Additional Public Prosecutor for the State submitted that there are specifrc allegations against petitioner and the truth or otherwise would come out only after conducting full-fledged trial by the concerned Court below and prayed to dismiss this Criminal Petition' ) ,7 - (< 3

06. In view of the above facts and circumstances of the case, it is relevant to extract the provision under Section 37O of IPC: I "37O. Trallicking of a person: (l)Whoever, for the purpose of exploitation, (a) recruits, (b) transports, (c) harbours, (d) transfers, or (e) receives, a person or persons, by- Firstl Secondla- using force, or any other form of coercion, or Thirdl Fourthl by practising fraud, or deception, using threats, or by abduction, or Fifthlu- by abuse ofpower, or siltht by inducement, including the giving or receiving of payments or benefits, in order to achieve the consent of any person having control over the person recruited, transported, harboured, transferred or received, commits the offence of trafficking, Explo,no'tion 7- The expression "exploitation,, shall include any act of physical exploitation or any form of sexual exploitation, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude, or the forced removal of organs. 4 'l Explanrrtion 2- The consent of the victim ts immateria-l in determination of the offence of trafficking. (2[Nhoever commits the offence of trafficking shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than seven years, but which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine. p/Where the offence involves the traffrcking of more than one person, it shall be punishable with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than ten years but which may extend to imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine. llfVlnere the offence involves the trafircking of a minor, it shall be punishable with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than ten years, but which may extend to imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to hne. /SlWhere the offence involves the trafficking of more than one minor, it shall be punishable with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than fourteen years, but which may extend to imprisonment for life, I 7 .: 5 Fnf a person is convicted of the offence of trafhcking of minor on more than one occasion, then such person shall be punished with imprisonment for life, which shall mean imprisonment for the remainder of that person's natural life, and shall also be liable to fine. (![V,/nen a public servant or a police oflicer is involved in the trafficking of any person then, such public servant or police oflicer shall be punished with imprisonment for life, which sha,ll mean imprisonment for the remainder of that person's natural life, and shall also be liable to fine."

07. Section 370(A) of IPC reads as under: Exploitation of a trafficked Defson'. flfWhoever, knowingly or having reason to believe that a minor has been trafficked, engages such minor for sexual exploitation in any manner, shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than five years, but which may extend to seven yea-rs, and shall also be liable to fine. /llWhoever, knowingly by or having reason to believe that a person has been trallicked, engages such person for sexual exploitation in 5 \ any manner, shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than three years, but which may extend to five years, and shall also be liable to fine.

08. As per Sections 37O and 370(.{) of IPC, any person by using threat or force or any form of coercion or abduction by practicing fraud or deception or by abusing of power or by inducing can only be termed as a 'trafhcked person'. In the present case, even according to the statement of LW5-sex worker, she stated that she was doing prostitution for the sake of money.

09. Now coming to Sections 3, 4 arrd 5 of the Act, the provisions in detail are extracted below:

3. Punishrnent for keepino a brothel or allowinq premises to be used a.s a brothet lTlAny person who keeps or manages, or acts or assists in the keeping or maregement of, a brothel shall be punishable on first conviction with rigorous imprisonment for a term of not less than one year and not more than three years and also with hne which may extend to two thousand rupees and in the event of a second or subsequent conviction, with rigorous ) 7 imprisonment for a term of not less tlean two years and not more than five years and also with fine which may extend to two thousand rupees. (Z)Any person who- /gfbeing the tenant, Iessee, occupier or person in charge of any premises, uses, or knowingly allows any other person to sue, such premises or any part thereof as a brothel, or p)being the owner, lessor or landlord of any premises or the agent of such owner, lessor or landlord, lets the sarne or any pa-rt thereof with the knowledge that the same or any part thereof is intended to be used as a brothel, or is wilfully a party to the use of such premises or any part thereof as a brottrel. Sha1l be punishable on hrst conviction with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years and with fine which may extend to two thousand rupees and in the event of a second or subsequent conviction, with rigorous imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years and also with fine. pfNotwithstanding anything contained i.r rrry other law for the time being in force, on conviction of any person referred to in clause (a) or clause (b) of sub-section (2) of any 8 on the earni so offence under that sub-section in respect of any premises or any part thereof, any lease or agreement under which such premises have been leased out or are held or occupied at the time of the commission of the offence, shall become void and inoperative with effect from the date of the said conviction. 4. Punishment or lit i prostitution. ,l],Any person over the age of eighteen years who knowingly lives, wholty or in part, on the earnings of the prostitution of a woman or girl shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine which may extend to one thousald rupees, or with both. l2[Nhere any person is Proved- lg)to be living with, or to be habitually in tfre company of, a Prostitute; or hlto have exercised control, direction or influence over the movements of a prostitute in such a manner as to show that such person is aiding, abetting or compelling her prostitution; /gfto be acting as a tout or pimp on behalf of a prostitute, it shall be presumed, until the contrary is proved, that such person is ---:7 9 knowingly living on the earnings of prostitution of another person within the meaning of sub-section (l):Provided that no such presumption shall be drawn in the case of a son or daughter of a prostitute, if the son or daughter is below the age ofeighteen years. 5. Procurinq, inducinq or tq.kins worrtctn or otrI for the sake of p rostitution. (7)Any person who- /gprocures or attempts to procure a woman or girl, whether with or without her consent, for the purpose of prostitution; or @finduces a woman or girl to go from any place, with the intent that she may for the purpose of prostitution become the inmate of, or frequent, a brothel; or [gftakes or attempts to take a woman or girl, or causes a woman or girl to be taken, from one place to another with a view to her carqring on, or being brought up to carry on prostitution; ft!,fcauses or induces a woman or girl to carry on prostitution;shall be punishable on frrst conviction with rigorous imprisonment for a term of not less than one year and not more than two years and a_lso with fine which may extend to two thousand rupees. 10 (2[n ttre event of a second or subsequent conviction of an offence under this section a person shall be punishable with rigorous imprisonment for a term of not less than two years and not more than five years and also with fine which may extend to two thousand rupees. lQ)An offence under this section shall be triable- /a)in the place from which a woman or girl is procured, induced to go, taken or caused to be taken or from which an attempt to procure or take such woman or girl is made; or (b)rn the place to which she may have gone as a result of the inducement or to which she is taken or caused to be taken or an attempt to take her is made.

10. The Sections 3, 4 and 5 of the Act deals w'ith regard to punishment for keeping a brothel or allowing premises to be used as a brothel, punishment for living on the earnings of prostitution; punishment for procuring, inducing or taking woman or girl for the sake of prostitution. There are no allegations against petitioner that he is running brothel, or he is living on the earnings of Y t 11 prostitution, or he procured girl for doing prostitution. In the present case on hand, as per the case of prosecution, the sole allegation against petitioner-accused No.4 is that he is a customer. Therefore, the allegation against petitioner does not constitute the offences under Sections 3. 4 and 5 of the Act. I 1. As seen from the entire case record, including the statement of the victim recorded under Section 161 of Cr.P.C., discloses that petitioner-accused No.4 is a customer and she clearly stated that due to poverty and other family backgrounds she joined brothel house and given her willingness to do sex with the customers. Furthermore, at the stage of filing of the FIR or during the course of investigation or through the averments of the charge sheet, the Police could not putforth any material to substantiate that petitioner-accused No.4 had knowledge and/or the t reason to believe that the women were traJlicked for the purpose of prostitution. Therefore, the ingredients required. to constitute the offence under Section 370(4,) of IpC is not made out against the petitioner. I I I

12. In view of the above discussion and having considered the fact that the petitioner-accused No.4 had no knowledge that the woman was trafhcked for the purpose of prostitution, this Court is of the considered view that the continuation of the proceedings against petitioner-accused No.4 arnounts to abuse of process of law, therefore, the proceedings against the petitioner-accused No.4 are liable to be quashed. i3. Accordingly, this Criminal Petition is allowed and the proceedings against the petitioner-accused No.4 in SC No.249 of 2024 on the file of the learned Senior Civil Judge-cum-Assistant Sessions Judge at Kukatpally, are hereby quashed. As a sequel, pending miscellaneous applications, if any, shall stand closed. Sd/. N. SRIHARI ASSISTANT REGISTRAR I //TRUE COPY// \ To, E ION OFFTCER l.TheXAdditionalMetropolitanMagistrateRangaReddyDistrictatKukatpally 2. The Senior Civil Judge-cum-Assistant Sessions Judge at Kukatpally' Ranga ReddY District

3.TheStationHouseOfficer,MadhapurPS'CyberabadDistrict 4. Two CCs to the Public Prosecutor' High Court for the State of Telangana' Hyderabad IOUI

5. One CC to Sri P Animi Reddy, Advocate [OPUC] 6. Two CD CoPies g i{E S rA I4: ( e o 2[ lfitl zffi : o ,. * D Egttlr"' { / HIGH COURT DATED:2210112025 ORDER CRLP.No.134 of 2025 ALLOWING THE CRLP oTnj G,