( 1 ) THE points involved in this writ petition are similar to those in Civil Misc. Writ No. 1371 of 1958 which I have disposed of today. Both these writ petitions were heard together and no separate arguments were addressed in either of them. In my order in writ petition No. 1371 of 1958 I have dealt with the questions raised in these two petitions in some detail, and for the reasons given in that order I reject this petition. Civil Miscellaneous Writ No. 1371 of 1958.

1-a. The petitioner has come to this Court on the allegation that she is a prostitute aged 24 years and is also a singer. She resides in premises No. 54-A, Mohamad Ali Park, Allahabad, of which the respondent No. 5 is the landlord and the respondent No. 4 the chief tenant. Her allegation is that prostitution is her hereditary trade and the only means of her livelihood as also that of her cousin sister and two younger brothers who are her dependants and who wholly live on her earnings made by prostitution.

She complains that the Suppression of Immoral Traffic in Women and Girls Act, 1956, (hereinafter referred to as the Act) is ultra vires of the Constitution of India, as it illegally prohibits the petit