Telangana High Court
Chinthala Shiva Rao vs The State Of Telangana on 14 November, 2023
Author: G. Radha Rani
Bench: G. Radha Rani
THE HONOURABLE DR.JUSTICE G. RADHA RANI
CRIMINAL PETITION Nos.10771, 10718 and 10583 OF 2023
COMMON ORDER:
CRIMINAL PETITION No.10771 of 2023 This Criminal Petition is filed under Section 482 of The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short, 'Cr.P.C.') by the petitioner-accused No.3 to quash the proceedings against him in Crime No.743 of 2023 of P.S. Jeedimetla, Cyberabad, registered for the offences under Sections 370, 370-A of Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for short, 'IPC') and Sections 3, 4 and 5 of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 (for short, 'PIT Act') on the file of the VIII Additional Metropolitan Magistrate, Cyberabad at Atvelli, Medchal- Malkajgiri District.
2. The case of the prosecution in brief was that on 05.10.2023 at 13:00 hrs., the Detective Inspector of Police, P.S. Jeedimetla on receiving credible information about A1 and A2 running a brothel house in a rented portion in ground floor of H.No.8-25, Srinivas Nagar, Chintal, secured two mediators and along with his staff raided the said house and found A1, A2 and A3 along with trafficked women and drafted search and seizure report and seized one Oppo mobile and net cash of Rs.1,000/- from A1 and two Oppo mobile phones from A3 and also seized 4 condoms from the bedroom and Dr.GRR,J Crl.P.Nos.10771, 10718 and 10583 of 2023 2 lodged a report. Basing on the said report, the Inspector of Police registered a case in Crime No.743 of 2023 under Sections 370, 370-A of IPC and Sections 3, 4 and 5 of PIT Act.
CRIMINAL PETITION No.10718 of 2023
4. This Criminal Petition is filed under Section 482 of The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short, 'Cr.P.C.') by the petitioner-accused No.2 to quash the proceedings against him in Crime No.624 of 2023 of P.S. Jeedimetla, Cyberabad, registered for the offences punishable under Sections 370, 370-A of Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for short, 'IPC') and Sections 3, 4 and 5 of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 (for short, 'PIT Act').
5. The case of the prosecution in brief was that on 15.08.2023 at 15:30 hrs on receiving credible information that the care taker of Shiv Nivas building, Opp: UMCC, Gajularamaram was organizing brothel house by engaging the sex workers and earning money, the Detective Inspector of Police, Jeedimetla P.S., Cyberabad obtained search proceedings from A.C.P., Balanagar and secured the presence of mediators and along with his staff proceeded to the said place and found A1, the organizer and on search of the room in the ground floor found in room No.104, one women and a male person and on enquiry came to know that male person was the customer (petitioner herein) who came for enjoying with sex worker and A1 collected Dr.GRR,J Crl.P.Nos.10771, 10718 and 10583 of 2023 3 Rs.1,000/- from him and sent the sex worker with him into the room for sexual exploitation. The Detective Inspector seized net cash of Rs.1,000/- and Samsung keypad mobile from A1 and one Redmi blue colour mobile from A2 and also seized two condoms, brought the accused persons along with the victim and seized property to P.S. and lodged a report which was registered as Crime No.624 of 2023 for the offences under Sections 370, 370-A of IPC and Sections 3, 4 and 5 of PIT Act.
CRIMINAL PETITION No.10583 of 2023
6. This Criminal Petition is filed under Section 482 of The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short, 'Cr.P.C.') by the petitioner-accused No.2 to quash the proceedings against him in Crime No.725 of 2023 of P.S. Kukatpally on the file of the XII Additional Metropolitan Magistrate, Medchal Malkajgiri District at Kukatpally, registered for the offences punishable under Sections 370-A(2) of Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for short, 'IPC') and Sections 3, 4 and 5 of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 (for short, 'PIT Act').
7. The case of the prosecution in brief was that on 13.08.2023 at 19:00 hrs, the Sub-Inspector of Police, P.S. Kukatpally received reliable information about some persons running brothel house at flat No.101, RK (Saraswathi) Towers, Sangeetha Nagar, Kukatpally, obtained permission from the A.C.P., Kukatpally to conduct search, secured two mediators, drafted Dr.GRR,J Crl.P.Nos.10771, 10718 and 10583 of 2023 4 search proceedings and along with his staff and mediators proceeded to the said place and found A1, the organizer and a male person, A2 (petitioner herein) with victim lady in the said room, took them into custody and seized two smart cell phones from the possession of the accused and six condoms from the victim room. He lodged a report, which was registered as Crime No.725 of 2023 for the offences punishable under Sections 370A(2) of IPC and Sections 3, 4 and 5 of PIT Act.
8. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioners and the learned Assistant Public Prosecutor.
9. The learned counsel for the petitioners submitted that the petitioners were alleged to be customers, who visited the places for the sake of prostitution. The above Sections under IPC and under PITA were not attracted against the petitioners herein, the crimes registered against the petitioners were liable to be quashed and relied upon the order of the single judge of this Court in Criminal Petition No.5073 of 2023 and batch dated 16.08.2023.
10. The learned Assistant Public Prosecutor on the other hand contended that there were contradictory orders rendered by various benches and relied upon the order of the combined High Court of Andhra Pradesh in S. Naveen Kumar @ Naveen Vs. The State of Talangana dated 28.04.2015 Dr.GRR,J Crl.P.Nos.10771, 10718 and 10583 of 2023 5 and various orders of Single Judges vide Criminal Petition No.5803 of 2018 dated 27.06.2018, Criminal Petition No.7681 of 2022 dated 29.08.2022, Criminal Petition No.3002 of 2021 dated 16.04.2022, Criminal Petition No.7843 of 2016 dated 22.06.2022, Criminal Petition No.9236 of 2022 dated 19.10.2022 and Criminal Petition No.5999 of 2022 dated 11.07.2022.
11. In all the above cases, the offences under Sections 3, 4 and 5 of PITA as well as Section 370 of IPC were quashed, but the offence under Section 370-A of IPC was continued.
12. Section 370-A of IPC reads as follows:
"S.370-A Exploitation of a trafficked person.
(1) 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.
(2) 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."
Dr.GRR,J Crl.P.Nos.10771, 10718 and 10583 of 2023 6 Thus, sub-clause (1) applies to minors and sub-clause (2) applies to any adult victims.
13. This Court in Criminal Petition No.5803 of 2018 held that:
"Though the learned senior counsel for the petitioner contended that the judgment of this Court in "S.Naveen Kumar @ Naveen v. State of Telangana" did not lay down the correct law, but on analysis of provisions under Section 370 A (2) of I.P.C., it is clear that the petitioner allegedly came to brothel house and found in a room along with Sex worker, but the purpose is only to participate in sexual intercourse (prostitution) with sex worker. Such person is said to have engaged in sexual exploitation and the said sex worker is trafficked person. Therefore, the petitioner is liable to be proceeded in trial for the offence punishable under Section 370 A (2) of I.P.C.
Even on reanalysis of the provisions, I find no other interpretation to sub-section (2) to Section 370 A of I.P.C. to refer the matter to any larger bench for authoritative pronouncement."
14. This Court is also in agreement with orders relied by the learned Assistant Public Prosecutor in considering that the petitioners-accused, who were alleged to be customers were not liable to be prosecuted for the offences under Sections 3, 4 and 5 of PITA as well as Section 370 of IPC, but were liable to be prosecuted for the offence under Section 370-A(2) of IPC.
Dr.GRR,J Crl.P.Nos.10771, 10718 and 10583 of 2023 7 Hence, the charges against these petitioners for the offences under Sections 3, 4 and 5 of PITA as well as under Section 370 of IPC are hereby quashed. But, however, the charge for the offence under Section 370-A(2) of IPC shall be continued against the petitioners.
15. In the result, all the petitions are partly allowed by quashing the charges against the petitioners for the offences punishable under Sections 3, 4 and 5 of PITA as well as under Section 370 of IPC, but the charge for the offence under Section 370-A(2) of IPC shall be continued against the petitioners.
Pending miscellaneous applications, if any, shall stand closed.
_____________________ DR.G. RADHA RANI, J Date:14 .11.2023 Ss