The High Court · 2025

Petition under Section 482 of cr.p.c., praying that in the circumstances stated in the Memorandum of Grounds of criminar peti on, the High court may be pleased to stay arl further proceedings including appearance oflhe petitioner in crime No.378 of 2023, on the fite of the xil Additional [Vletropolitan trriagistrate at Kukatpally, Medchal Matajgiri District. This Petition coming on for hearing, upon perusing the Memorandum of Grounds of criminal Petition and upon hearing the arguments of sri GANApATHI KoLLl, Advocate for the Petitioner and the public prosecutor (TG) on behalf of the Respondent No. 1 and None Appeared for the Respondent No. 2 The Court made the following: ORDER THE HONOURABLE SMT. JUSTICE JUVVADI SRIDEVI CRIMINAL PETIT ION N 0.5822 ot 2024 ORDER This ,Oriminal Petition rs filed by the petitioner-accused No'3 to quash tlre proceedings against him in FIR/Crime No 378 of 2023 on the file of the Station House Officer, Sanathnagar Police Station, Cyberabad. The offences alleged against petitioner are under Section 370, 370(A) of the lndian Penal Code 'ifor short 'lPC') and li, 4, 5 of the lmmoral Traffic (Prevention) Act' 1956 (for short 'the A.ct'). ! '

02. Heard Sri Kolli Ganapathi, learned counsel for petitioner and Sri Jithender Rao Veeramalla, learned l\dditional Public Pros;ecutor 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 F,remises at Flat No.202, SRT "17, Sanathnagar and found that accused Nos.1 and 2 were organizing brothel house and petitioner-accused No 3 is the customer of the said brothel house. 04 Learned counsel for petitioner submitted that the woman who was found with petitioner is not a trafficked woman 2 and petitioner is nothing to do with the alleged offences. The ingredients of the offence under Section 370, 370(4) of lpc 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 petitioner

05. Learned Additional public prosecutor for the State submitted that there are specific 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 disrniss this Criminal Petition.

06. ln view of the above facts and circumstances of the it is relevant to extract the provision under Section 370 of c€lse, IPC: "370. Trafficking 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- Firstlv- using threats, or Secondt using force, or any other form of coercion, Thirdl by abduction, or Foutthl by practising fraud, or deception, or Fitthlv- by abuse of power, or -ili ;! " 3 !E!h!V- by inducement, including the giving or receiv,ing of payments or benefits, in order to achieve the 'cctnsent of any person having control over the person recruited, transpofted, harboured, transferred or recerved, commits the offence of trafficking. Explanation 1- The expression "exploitation" shall inclu'Crt any act of physical exploitation or any fctrm of sexual exploitation, slavery or practices simitar to slavetr.V, servitude, or the forced removal of organs. Explanation 2- The consent of the victim is immaterial in dete>rmination of the offence of trafficking. @W'hoever commits the offence of trafficking st'all be puni:;hecl with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be iess than seven years, but which may extencl to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine. (3)Where the offence involves the trafficking of more than c'tne person, it shall be punishable with igorous imprtscnment for a term which shall nol be /ess th,an ten year:; but which may extend to imprisonment for life, and :;hall also be liable to fine (!)W'here the offence involves the trafficking of a minor, it shiall be punishable with rigorous imprisonmen'l for a tenn which shall not be /ess than ten years, but which may extend to imprisonment for life, and shall also be liablet to fine. (!)W'here the offence involves the trafficking of more than one minor, it shall be punishable with rigtorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be les:; than foudeen years, but which may extend to imprisonment for life. and shall also be liable to fine. (9)lf a person is convicted of the offence of trafficking of minor on more than one occasion, then such tr)erson shall Lre punished with imprisonment for life, which shall nrean imprisonment for the remainder of that person's natural life, and shall also be liable to fine. (I)W'hen a public servant or a police officer is involved in the trafficking of any person then, such public servant or pctlice officer shall be punished with imprisonment for 4 life, which sha mean imprisonment for the remainder of that person's naturat life, and shall also be liable to fine.,, 07. Section 370(4) of IpC reads as under: Exploitation of a traffic ked person: (!)Whoever, knowingly or having reason to believe that a minor has been trafficked, engages such minor for sexual exploitation in any manner, shalt be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shatt not be /ess than five years, but which may extend to seven years, and shall also be liabte to fine. (llWhoever, knowingly by or having reason to betieve that a person has been trafficked, engages such person for sexual exploitation in any manner, shalt be punished with igorous imprisonment for a term which shatt not bl, /ess fhan three years, but which may extend to five years, and shall also be liable to fine. 08. As per Sections 370 and 370(4) 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, 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:

3. Punishment for keeoinq a brothel or allowinq pre mises to be usedas a brothel. t$Any person who keeps or manages, or acts or assisls in the keeping or management of, a brothel shatt be punishable on first conviction with rigorous imprisonment for a term of nol /ess than one year and 5 not rnore than three years and also with fine which may extencl to two thousand rupees and in the event of a second or subsequent conviction, wrth rigorous imprrs,cnment for a term of nol /ess than two years and not rnore than five years and also with fine whici\ may extencl to two thausand ruPees. (2)An1, person who- (s)being the tenant. /essee, occupier or person in charge of any premises, uses, or knowingly allortrs any other ,cerson to sue, such premises or any parl t,lereof as a brothel, or b)bt>i,tg the owner, iessor or landlord of any premises or the agent of such owner, lessor or landlord, letts the same or any paft thereof with the knowledge that the same or any paft thereof is intended to be used as a brothel, or is wilfully a pafty to the use of such pre mlsbs or any' part thereof as a brothel. Shall be punishable on first conviction with imprisonment for a term which may extencl to two years and with fine which may extend to two lhousand rupees and in the event of a second or subsequent conviction, with rigorous imprisonment for a term vrhich may extend to five years and also with fine. (!)Notwithstanding anything contained in any other law for thet 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 premrses or any parl thereof, any lease or agreement unde,r which such premises have been leased out or are held ctr occupied at the time of the commission of the offence, shall become void and inoperative with effect from tt\e date of the said conviction. 4. Punishment for livinq on the earninqs of prostitution. O)Atl1r person over the age of eighteen year:; who knovingly lives, wholly or in paft, on the earnings of the prostitution of a woman or girl shall be punishabfe with impr,isonment for a term which may extend to two years, or w,itlt fine which may extend to one thousand rupees, or with both. 6 Q)Where any person is proved_ (a)to be living with, or to be habitually 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 competting her prostitution; or (s)to be acting as a tout or pimp on behalf 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-section (1).provided that no such presumption shall be drawn in lhe case of a son or daughter of a prostitute, if the son or daughter is below the age of eighteen years. 5. Procurino. inducinq or takinq woman or dirl fon the sake of prostitution. (!)Any person who- (a)procures or attempts to procure a woman or girl, whether with or without her consent, for the purpose of prostitution; or (b)induces a woman or girl to go from any ptace, with the intent that she may for the purpose of prostitution become the inmate of, or frequent, a brothel; or (p)takes or attempts to take a woman or girl, or causes a woman or girl to be taken, from one ptace 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 girt to carry on prostitution; shall be punishable on first conviction with igorous impisonment for a term of not less than one year and not more than two years and atso 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 shalt be punishable with rigorous imprisonment for a term of not /ess fhan two years and not more than five years and also with fine which may extend to two thousand rupees. 7 P)An ctffence under this section shall be triable- (a)in tt;e place from which a woman or girl is proc:ured, inducel to go, taken or caused to be taken or from whict,, an attempt to procure or take such woman or girl is mad-o. or b)in the place to which she may have gone as a result of the, tnducement or to which she is taken or caus;ed to be talketn or an attempt to take her is made.

10. -l-he 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 is running brothel, or he is living on the earnings of prostitution. or he procured girl for doing prostitutior. ln the present cas,e on hand, as per the case of prosecution, the sole allegation against petitioner-accused No.3 is that re is a customer. 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, including the contents ol FlR, the victim disclosed that the petitioner is a customer and she clearly stated that she joined brothel house and given irer willingness to do sex with the customers and she 0 I collected mcney from the petitioner herein. Furthermore, there is no allegation in the FIR that the petitioner herein had knowledge n and/or the reason to believe that the woman was trafficked for the purpose of prostitution. Therefore, the ingredients required to constitute the offences under Sections 370, 370(A) of lpC are not made out against the petitioner.

12. In view of the above discussion and having considered the fact that the petitioner_accused No.3 had no knowledge that the woman was trafficked for the purpose of prostitution, this Court is of the considered view that the continuation of the proceedings against petitioner_accused No.3 amounts to abuse of process of law, therefore, 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 FrR/crime No.378 of 2023 on the file of the Station House Officer, Sanathnagar Police Station, Cyberabad, are hereby quashed. As a sequel, pending miscellaneous applications, if any, shall stand closed 1 I To, //TRUE COPY// Sd/- MOHD. ISMAIL ASSISTANT REGISTRAR SECTION OFFICER

1. The Court of Xll Additional lvletropolrtan Magistrate, Kukatpally at Prashanthnagar, Cyberabad.

2. The Station House Offrcer. Sanathanagar police Station, Cyberabad. 3. Two ccs to the Pubric Prosecutor, High court for the state of rerangana At Hyderabad [OUT]

4. One CC to SFil. GANAPATHI KOLLI, Advocate [OPUC] 5. Two CD Copies \ v t- t I I I HIGH COURT' DATED:1210212025 1 gE Sl4 7 c o 0 4 t'lAB 2025 t o DATC!\(rO ,i (' a |: j ORDER CRLP.No.5822 of 2024 ALLOWING THE CRIMINAL PETITION b