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Issues Involved:
1. Legality of the trial due to non-compliance with Section 15 of the Suppression of Immoral Traffic in Women & Girls Act, 1956. 2. Admissibility of evidence obtained through a search that did not comply with Section 15(2) of the Act. 3. Applicability of Section 537 of the Criminal Procedure Code in validating the trial despite procedural irregularities. Detailed Analysis: 1. Legality of the trial due to non-compliance with Section 15 of the Suppression of Immoral Traffic in Women & Girls Act, 1956: The primary issue in this appeal was whether the trial became illegal because the search was not conducted strictly in accordance with Section 15 of the Act. The appellant argued that the provisions of the Act, being special in nature, should have been strictly followed. Specifically, the appellant pointed out that the panch witnesses were not inhabitants of the locality where the search was conducted, which contravened Section 15(2) of the Act. The High Court, however, held that the power to conduct the search was derived from the statute and not from the recording of reasons, and thus, the search was not rendered illegal due to the contravention of Section 15(1). 2. Admissibility of evidence obtained through a search that did not comply with Section 15(2) of the Act: The appellant contended that the search was illegal because the panch witnesses were not inhabitants of the locality, as required by Section 15(2). The High Court disagreed, stating that there was no provision in law rendering the evidence of the panch witnesses inadmissible even if Section 15(2) was contravened. The Court cited the case of State of Rajasthan v. Rehman, which clarified that the jurisdiction to make a search was conferred by the statute and not by the recording of reasons. 3. Applicability of Section 537 of the Criminal Procedure Code in validating the trial despite procedural irregularities: The Court considered whether the non-compliance with Section 15(2) constituted an illegality or a mere irregularity. It was held that non-compliance with the directions in Section 15(2) was an irregularity and not an illegality that would vitiate the trial. The Court emphasized that unless the irregularity caused a failure of justice, the sentence could not be set aside. The decision in The State of Uttar Pradesh v. Bhagwati Kishore Joshi was referenced, where it was held that procedural irregularities that did not cause prejudice to the accused did not invalidate the trial. The Court concluded that Section 537 of the Criminal Procedure Code would apply, and in the absence of any demonstrated prejudice to the appellant, the order of the High Court was upheld. Conclusion: The Court dismissed the appeal, affirming that while investigating agencies should not disregard procedural safeguards, non-compliance with Section 15(2) of the Act did not render the trial illegal. The trial and conviction were upheld as there was no shown prejudice to the appellant. The Court reiterated that procedural irregularities must cause a miscarriage of justice to affect the trial's outcome.
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