The Telangana High Court on Monday directed the Director General of Police to appoint Special Officers within four weeks to investigate cases registered under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act (PITA)-1956.
Justice Anil Kumar Jukanti of the HC, quashing a FIR issued by the Punjagutta police of Hyderabad invoking PITA, said the PITA mandated that an Inspector rank officer should register and investigate the case. A Sub-Inspector of Punjagutta police in June raided a building on a tip-off that some persons were operating brothel in the guise of a spa.
One of the accused, a home maker, filed the petition seeking a direction to set aside FIR on the ground that while the PITA provisions mandated that a ‘special officer’ appointed for the purpose of investigating should have probed the case. Instead, a SI who had no jurisdiction or power to book such case had registered case against them.
