M.S.A. Siddiqui - (1.)this petition under Section 482, Cr.P.C., the petitioner seeks quashing of the criminal proceedings emanating from the FIR No. 260/96 under Sections 3/4/5 of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act (for short 'the Act') and pending on the file of the Metropolitan Magistrate, Delhi.
(2.)The petitioner was suspected of having committed the offences punishable under Sections 3/4/5 of the Act. The impugned FIR was registered at the Police Station Preet Vihar and the case was investigated by the Inspector R.P. Tyagi. Investigation pursuant to the said FIR culminated into submission of a charge sheet under Sections 3/4/5 of the Act against the petitioner and others. On charge sheet being filed, the learned Magistrate took cognizance of the offence against the petitioners and other accused persons vide orders dated 27.2.1998. Aggrieved thereby, the petitioner moved the Additional Sessions Judge, Delhi by filing a revision petition, which was dismissed vide order dated 3.12.1998. Not satisfied with the dismissal of the revision petition, the petitioner has come up before this Court under Section 482, Cr.P.C.
(3.)The only point for consideration, in this case, is whether the Inspector R.P. Tyagi, who is neither a Special Officer under the Act nor the Station House Officer of the P.S. Preet Vihar, can validly investigate the offences under the Act. It is relevant to mention that the Act is a complete Code in itself. It provides machinery to deal with the offences created thereunder, in accordance with the provisions of the Special Act and its necessary implication is that no other machinery is competent to deal with those offences. According to Section 13 of the Act, "there shall be, for each area to be specified by the State Government, a Special Police Officer appointed by or on behalf of that Government for dealing with offences under the Act in that area". By the Notification No. F-5/67/88, dated 14.12.1988, issued under Sub-section (1 ) of Section 13 of the Act, all Assistant Commissioners of Police, all Station House Officers and all the Assistant Commissioners of Police of Crime Branch, Palam Airport and Railways have been appointed as Special Officers for the purposes of the Act. Learned Counsel for the State has fairly conceded that the Inspector R.P. Tyagi was not the Special Police Officer within the meaning of Section 13 of the Act. In Delhi Administration v. Ram Singh, AIR 1962 S.C. 63, it was held that the Police Officer, not specifically appointed as Special Police Officers cannot investigate the offences under the Act. Since Inspector R.P. Tyagi was not a Special Police Officer within the meaning of Section 13 of the Act, he was not competent to investigate the case against the petitioner and other co-accused persons. I, therefore, hold that the arrest of the petitioner by the Inspector R.P. Tyagi and the investigation of the case by him were illegal and the proceedings emanating from the FIR No. 260/ 96 are liable to quashed. For the reasons mentioned, the petition is allowed and the proceeding emanating from the FIR No. 260/96 and pending on the file of the Metropolitan Magistrate, Delhi are quashed.