TMI Blog1963 (10) TMI 36X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ited from re-entering them. The respondents received the notices and filed objections claiming that the proceedings were not legally maintainable. The learned City Magistrate repelled the said objections. Against the orders of the Magistrate the respondents went up in revision to the Additional Sessions Judge Kanpur but the same were dismissed. Thereafter the respondents preferred revisions to the High Court of judicature at Allahabad and the said High Court allowed the revision petitions and set aside the proceedings pending against the respondents in the Court of the City Magistrate, Kanpur. The High Court held that s. 20 of the Act abridged the fundamental rights of the respondents under Art. 14 and sub-cls. (d) and (e) of Art. 19(1) of the Constitution. After obtaining certificates for leave to appeal from the High Court, the present appeals have been preferred by the State. As the argument turns upon the provisions of s. 20 of the Act, it will be convenient at the outset to read it : Section 20. (1) A Magistrate on receiving information that any woman or girt residing in or frequent- ing any place within the local limits of his jurisdiction is a prostitute, may ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ession information only to that given by a special police officer, it would have specifically stated so in the section. The omission is a clear indication that a particular source of information is not material for the application of the section. There is an essential distinction between an investigation and arrest in the matter of offences and information to the Magistrate : the former, when dealing with women, has potentialities for grave mischief and, therefore, entrusted only to specific officers, while mere giving of information 'Would. not have such consequences particularly when as we would indicate later, the information received by the Magistrate would only start the machinery of a judicial enquiry. We therefore, hold, giving the natural meaning to the expression on receiving information , that' information may be from any source. The next question is whether s.20 of the Act offends Art. 14 of the Constitution. It is stated that the power conferred on the Magistrate under s. 20 of the Act is an uncanalized and uncontrolled one, that he acts thereunder in his executive capacity, that the said section enables him to discriminate between prostitute and prosti ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... - Police or the District Magistrate, as the casec it may be. Section 8 prohibits seducing or soliciting for purpose of prostitution in any public place or within sight of, and in such manner as to be seen or heard from, any public place, whether from within any building or house or not, and makes such soliciting or seducing an offence under the Act. Section 18 provides for the closure of brothels and eviction of offenders from the premises, if such premises are within a distance of two hundred yards from a public place mentioned in s. 7(1) and are used or run as a brothel by any person or used by prostitutes for carrying on their trade. The Act was conceived to serve a public social purpose, viz., to suppress immoral traffic in women and girls, to rescue fallen women and girls and to prevent deterioration in public morals. The Act clearly defines a prostitute , and gives definite indications from which places prostitutes should be' removed or in respect whereof their movements should be restricted. With this policy in mind, let us now give close look to the provisions of s. 20(1) of the Act. The following procedural steps are laid down in s. 20 of the Act: (1) ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ndamental right of personal liberty. No right can be more important to a person than the right to select his or her home and to move about in the manner he or she likes. Even depraved woman cannot be deprived of such a right except for good reasons. When the Legislature conferred Jurisdiction on a Magistrate to decide the question of imposing restrictions on such a right by following judicial procedure, it is reasonable to hold that it conferred jurisdiction on him as a court, unless the clear provisions of the Act compel us to hold otherwise. Indeed the analysis of the section earlier made negatives any intention to the contrary. The fact that the enquiry does not relate to an offence is not decisive of the question whether the Magistrate is functioning as a court. There are many proceedings under the Code of Criminal Procedure, such as those under ss. 133, 144, 145 and 488, which do not deal with offences but still it is never suggested that a Magistrate in making an enquiry in respect of matters thereunder is not functioning as a court. We therefore, hold that in the circumstances the Magistrate must be held to be acting as a court. If the Magistrate is acting as a court, as ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ure ones. Such trade in public may also lead to scandals and unseemly broils. There are, therefore, pronounced and real differences between a woman who is a prostitute and one who is not, and between a prostitute, who does not demand in public interests any restrictions on her movements and a prostitute, whose actions in public places call for the imposition of restrictions on her movements and even deportation. The object of the Act, as has already been noticed is not only to suppress immoral traffic in women and girls, but also to improve public morals by removing. prostitutes from busy public places in the vicinity of religious and educational., tutions. The differences between these two- classes of stitutes have a rational relation to the object sought to be achieved by the Act. Section 20, in order to prevent moral decadence in a busy locality, seeks to restrict the movements of the second category of prostitutes and to deport such of them as the peculiar methods of their operation in area may demand. judicial decisions arising under the Act and under analogous Acts were cited at the Bar. The question whether a particular provisions offends Art. 14 of the Constitution or no ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ied in the order and prohibit her from re- entering the place without his permission in writing. This is certainly a restriction on a citizen's fundamental right under Art. 19.(1) (d) and (e) of the Constitution. Whether a restriction is reasonable in the interests or the general public cannot be answered on a priori reasoning; it depends upon the peculiar circumstances of each case. Mahajan J., as he then was, speaking for the Court in Chintaman Rao v. The State of Madhya Pradesh[1950] S.C.R. 759, 763 succinctly defined the expression reasonable restrictions thus : The- phrase reasonable restriction connotes the limitation imposed on a person in enjoyment of the right should not be arbitrary or of an excessive nature, beyond what is required in the interests of the public. The word reasonable implies intelligent care and deliberation, that is, the choice of a course which reason dictates. A fairly exhaustive test to ascertain the reasonableness of a provision is given by Patanjali Sastri C.J. in The State of Madras v. V. G. Row[1952]_ S.C.R. 597, 607. Therein the learned Chief justice observed thus : It is important in this context to bear in mind that the test ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... m outside his jurisdiction is far in excess of the requirements. It is suggested that by consecutive orders made by various Magistrates, the point may be reached when a prostitute may be deported out of India. The second argument borders on fantasy. The first argument also has no force. If the presence of a prostitute in a locality within the Jurisdiction of a Magistrate has a demoralising influence on the public of that locality, having regard to the density of population, the existence of schools, colleges and other public institutions in that locality and other similar causes, we (lo not see how an order of deportation may not be necessary to curb the evil and to improve the public morals. Once it is held that the activities of a prostitute in a particular area, having regard to the conditions obtaining therein, are so subversive of public morals anti so destructive of Public health that it is necessary in public interest to deport her from that place, we do not see any reason why the restrictions should be held to be unreasonable. Whether deportation out of the jurisdiction of the Magistrate is necessary or not depends upon the facts of each case and the degree of the demora ..... 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