Pagadala Shivashankar Rao, ... vs State Of Telangana, Rep Pp.,
2021 Latest Caselaw 3177 Tel

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                                                               crlp_4306_2015
                                                                         AVR,J




  THE HON' BLE SRI JUSTICE A. VENKATESHWARA REDDY

               CRIMINAL PETITION No.4306 of 2015

ORDER:

The petitioner-accused No.3 has filed this petition under

Section 482 of Cr.P.C. to quash the proceedings in C.C.No.1 of

2015 (Crime No.449 of 2014 of P.S.Chilkalguda, Hyderabad), on

the file of learned Special Judicial Magistrate of First Class for

Excise, at Erramanjil, Hyderabad, Telangana State.

The petitioner along with Accused Nos.1 and 2, was charged

for the offences punishable under Sections 3, 4 and 5 of Immoral

Trafficking (Prevention), 1956 (for short, 'the Act'). Accused No.1 is

shown as organizer whereas the petitioner/accused No.3 is shown

as customer.

It is alleged that on 29.07.2014 at 9:00 AM, at the residence

of accused No.2 Smt. Jyothi, the petitioner/accused No.3 was found

and the accused No.1 was running that brothel house, taking the

premises at Mylargadda on monthly rental basis. Accordingly,

accused Nos.1 to 3 were remanded to judicial custody. The

investigation discloses that accused No.1 - Junior Artist is an

organizer whereas accused No.3 is a customer, and they were

arrested and remanded for committing the offence punishable

under Sections 3, 4 and 5 of the Act.

Learned counsel for the petitioner/accused No.3 would submit

that none of the Sections 3, 4 and 5 or other sections of the Act

describe a 'customer' as offender and therefore prosecution of the

crlp_4306_2015 AVR,J

petitioner/accused No.3 is abuse of process of law and hence the

proceedings against the petitioner may be quashed.

Learned Public Prosecutor has contended that the petitioner,

being a co-accused, is liable for prosecution.

Perused the entire record, scheme of the Act, particularly

Sections 3, 4 and 5 of the Act.

A perusal of the Act would show that nowhere it is described

that a customer is also an offender. Section 3 of the Act deals with

punishment for keeping a brothel or letting the premises to be used

as brothel; Section 4 deals with punishment for living on the

earnings of prostitution; whereas Section 5 deals with procuring,

inducing or taking for the sake of prostitution.

Obviously, the allegation against the petitioner/accused No.3

is not that he is either running a brothel house or procuring women

for the purpose of prostitution or that he is living by earning money

on prostitution.

As per the averments of the charge sheet, he was found

along with accused Nos.1 and 2 only as a customer of flesh trade.

Therefore, Sections 3 to 5 of the Act are not applicable to the

petitioner. Further, none of the other penal provisions under the

Act describe a customer as an offender.

Therefore, there is any amount of force in the submission of

the learned counsel for the petitioner that a customer of flesh trade

cannot be treated as offender under the Act.

crlp_4306_2015 AVR,J

This aspect is no longer res integra and we are fortified by the

latest judgment in the Crl.P.No.1795 of 2015 dated 19.03.2015 of

this Court and two other judgments of this Court in Goenka Sajan

Kumar v. The State of A.P1; and Z. Lourdaiah Naidu v. State

of Andhra Pradesh2.

In all the above three cases, the petitioners were admittedly

customers of brothel house, consequently the proceedings against

them were quashed holding that the provisions of the Act cannot be

invoked for prosecuting customers.

Having regard to the facts of the case, and the above

precedential jurisprudence on the subject in issue, it is clear that

the criminal proceedings against the petitioner-accused No.3 would

amount to abuse of process of law.

In the result, the criminal petition is allowed, quashing the

proceedings against the petitioner/accused No.3 in C.C.No.1 of

2015 (Crime No.449 of 2014 of P.S. Chilkalguda, Hyderabad), on

the file of learned Special Judicial Magistrate of First Class for

Excise, at Erramanjil, Hyderabad, Telangana. Miscellaneous

petitions, if any pending in this criminal petition, shall stand closed.

________________________ A. VENKATESHWARA REDDY, J

02nd November, 2021

ksm

2014 (2) ALD (Cri) 264

2013 (2) ALD (Cri) 393

crlp_4306_2015 AVR,J

THE HON' BLE SRI JUSTICE A. VENKATESHWARA REDDY

CRIMINAL PETITION No.4306 of 2015

02nd November, 2021

ksm