The High Court · 2025

2. Sri N. Sudhakar Reddy, S/o. Not unknown, aged about 42 yearc, Occ. Sub lnspector of Police, Rl/o. Uppal Police station, Hyderabad ...Respondents Petition undeq 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 S.C. No.84 of 2024 on the file Hon'ble ll Addl Senior Civil Judge-cum-Additional Chief Judicial l\r'lagistrate, Medchal Malkajgiri District at Malkajgiri against the Petitioner/ Accused No.3. 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 in S.C.No.84 of 2024 on the file Hon'ble ll Addl Senior Civil Judge-cum-Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Medchal Malkajgiri District at Malkajgiri against the Petitioner no.3/Accused No.3 including the personal appearance of the Petitioners no.3 /Accused No.3 pending disposal of the criminal petition. ThisPetitionComingonforhearing,uponperusingtheMemorandumof Grounds of Criminal Petition and upon hearing the arguments of Sri Baglekar Akash Kumar, Advocate for the Petitioner and sri Jithender Rao Veeramalla, Additional Public Prosecutor on behalf of the Respondent No 1' The Court made the following Order : 1 THE HONOURABLE SMT. JUSTICE JUWADISRIDEVI CRIMINALPETITI ON No.2344 ot 2025 ORDER This Criminal Petition is filed by the petitioner-accused No.3 to quash the proceedings against him in S C'No'84 of 2024 on the file of the learned ll Additional Senior Civil Judge-cum-Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate' Medchal- I\4alkajgiri District at Malkajgiri' The offences alleged against thepetitionerareunderSections3T0(AX2)ofthelndian Penal Code (for short 'lPC') and 3' 4' 5 of the lmmoral Traffic (Prevention)Act, 1956 (for short'the Act')'

02. Heard Sri Baglekar Akash Kumar' learned counsel for petitioner and Sri Jithender Rao Veeramalla' learned Additional Public Prosecutor for the State'

03. ln brief, the case of the prosecution is that the Police, received credible information about running of brothel house and raided the premises at H'No'3-10-29ifuD' Gokhalenagar, Ramanthapur and found that the accused Nos.1 and 2 were organizing brothel house and petitioner- accused No.3 is the customer of the said brothel house' 2

04. Learned counsel for petitioner submitted that the woman who was found with petitioner-accused, is not a trafficked woman and the petitioner is nothing to do with the alleged offences. The ingredients of the offence under Sections 370(AX2) of IPC and 3, 4, 5 of the Act does not attract to the present case on hand. Thereby, he prayed to quash the criminal proceedings against the petiUoner

05. Learned Additional public prosecutor for the State submitted that there are specific allegations against the petitioner and the truth or othenivise would come out only after conducting full-fledged trial by the concerned Court below and prayed to dismiss this Criminal petition

06. ln view of the above facts and circumstances of the case, it is relevant to extract the provision under Section 370 of IPC "370. Trafficking of a person: (1)Whoever, for the purpose of exploitation, (a) recruits, (b) transports, (c) harbours, (d) transfers, or (e) receives, a person or persons, by- Firstlv- using threats. or Secondl using force, or any other form of coercion, 3 4 Thirdl by abduction' or by practising fraud, or deception' or Fourthl EjfrblY- bY abuse of Power' or by inducement, inctuding the giving or Sixthl receiving of payments or benefits' in order to achieve the consent of anY Person having control over the person recruited, transpofied' harboured' transferred or received. commits the offence of trafficking Explana tion 1- The expression "exploitation" shall any act of physical exploitation or any form of include exploitation, slavery or practices similar to sexual slavery, servitude, or the forced removal of organs' Expla nation 2- The consent of the victim is immaterial in determination of the offence of trafficking' (!)Whoever commits the offence of trafficking shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be /ess than seven years' but which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine' (!)Where the offence involves the trafficking of more than one person, it shall be punishable with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shattnot be /ess than ten years but which may extend to imprisonment for life' and shall also be liable to fine' (llWhere the offence involves the trafficking of a minor' it shatl be punishable with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be /ess than ten years' but which may extend to imprisonment for life' and shall also be liable to fine (!)Where the offence involves the trafficking of more than one minor, it shall be punishable with rigorous 4 impisonment for a term which shall not be less than foudeen years, but which may extend to impisonment for tife, and shall also be liable to fine- (6)lf a person is convicted of the offence of trafficking of minor on more than one occasion, then such person shatl 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- Q)When a public servant or a police officer is involved in the trafficking of any person then, such public servant or police officer shall be punished with impisonment for life, which shall mean imprisonment for the remainder of . that person's natural life, and shall also be liable to fine."

07. Section 370(4) of IPC reads as under Exploitation of a trafficked person (!)Whoever, 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 years, and shall also be liable to fine. {Z)Whoever, knowingly by or having reason to believe that a person has been trafficked, engages such person for sexual exploitation in 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. 5 08 As per Sections 370 and 370(A) of lPC, 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 'trafficked person'. ln the Present case, even according to the prosecution, the victim was doing prostitution for the sake of money.

09. Now coming to Sections 3, 4, 5 of the Act, the provisions in detail are extracted below: for keepinq a brothel or allowinq

3. Punishment premises to be used as a brothel. AAny person who keeps or manages, or acts or assisfs in the keeping or management of, a brothel shall be punishable on first conviction with rigorous imprisonment for a term of not /ess than one year and not more than three years and also 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 of nol /ess than two years and not more than five years and also with fine which may extend to two thousand ru?ees. (!)Any person who- (e)being the tenant, lessee, 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 6 (p)being the owner, lessor or landlord of any premises or the agent of such owner, lessor or landlord, lets the same or any part thereof with the knowledge that the same or any paft thereof is intended Io be used as a brothel, or is wilfully a pafty to the use of such premlses or any paft thereof as a brothel. Shall be punishable on first 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 impisonment for a term which may extend to five years and also with fine. (!)Notwithstanding anything contained in any 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 offence under that sub-section in respect of any premises or any paft thereof, any lease or agreement undel 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 for living on the earn inqs of prostitution. tOAny person over the age of eighteen years who knowingly lives, wholly 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 thousand rupees, or with both. (!)Where any person is proved- 7 E (3)to be living with, or to be habituaily in the company of, a prostitute; or (b)to 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 compelting her prostitution; or (g)to be acting as a tout or pimp on behatf of a prostitute, it shall be presumed, untit the contrary is proved, that such person is knowingly living on the earnings of prostitution of another person within the meaning of sub-sectjon (1):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 of eighteen years. 5. Procurin ct. inducinq or takinq woman or q.irl for the sake of Drostitution. (!)Any person who- (2)lcrocures or attempts to procure a woman or girl, whether with or without her consent, for the purpose of prostitution; or (h)induces a woman or girt to go from any place, with the intent that she may for the purpose of prostitution become the inmate of, or frequent, a brothet; or (e)takes 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 carrying on, or being brought up to carry on prostitution; or (d)causes or induces a woman or girl to carry on prostitution;shall be punishable on first conviction with rigorous imprisonment for a term of not less than one 8 year and not more than two years and also with fine which may extend to two thousand rupees [!)ln the event of a second or subsequent conviction of an offence under this section a person shall be punishable with rigorous impisonment 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. (!)An offence under this section shalt be triable- (a)in the place from which a woman or girt 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)in 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, 5 of the Act deals with 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 the petitioner that he ls running brothel, or he is living on the earnings of prostitution, or he procured girl for doing prostitution. ln the present case on hand, as per the case of prosecution, the sole allegation against the petitioner-accused No.3 is that he is the customer r 9 Therefore, the allegation against the petitioner does not constitute the offences under Sections 3' 4' 5 of the Act

11. As seen from the entire case record' the victims joined brothel house and given their 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 the petitioner l'O knowledge and/or the reason to believe that the women were trafficked for the purpose of prostitution Therefore' the ingredients required for constituting the offence under Section 370(AX2) of IPC are not made out against the petitioner

12. ln view of the above discussion and having considered the fact that the petitioner-accused had no knowledge that the woman were trafficked for the purpose of prostitution, this Court is of the considered view that the continuation of the proceedings against the petitioner- accused No.3 amounts to abuse of process of law' therefore' I , 10 the proceedings against the petitioner-accused No.3 are liable to be quashed

13. Accordingly, this Criminal Petition is allowed and the proceedings against the petitioner-accused No.3 in S.C.No.84 of 2024 on the file of the learned ll Additional Senior Civil Judge-cum-Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Ir/edchal-Malkajgiri District at Malkajgiri, are hereby quashed As a sequel, pending miscellaneous applicationsl if any, shall stand closed. //TRUE COPY// SD/.MOHD.ISMAIL ASSISTANT REGISTRAR ,,,a-\ L1r l\ \" $tc TION OFFICER To, 1 The Vl Additional lvletropolitan Magistrate Medchal Malkajgiri District, uppal at LB Nagar Medchal Malkajgiri District at Malkajgiri z. ih" iiiJar senior civit Judge-cum-Additionat chief Judicial Magistrate, a. ii," Striion Hol-se Officer, Uppal PS' Rachakonda.Diskict ;. i;; cC; !, the Public Prosecutor, High court for the state of Telangana' s. oil" cC to Sri Baglekar Akash Kumar, Advocate [OPUCI 6. Two CD CoPies Hyderabad [OUT] $ HIGH COURT DATED:1 910212025 ORDER CRLP.No.2344 of 2025 .:{/.r l-s ,)11 I .v Ct 5 +/ /''-.,1. /ii: lr:l \.i .,. . - .1,- "i,A;' '- ---{ , -j ALLOWING THE CRLP (-g+' W