JUDGMENT N. Beg, J. - This is as application in revision by Srimati Logeshri. The applicant is a resident of Patti Baru within the Municipal area of Baraut in the district of Meerut. 2. It would appeal that u/s 298(H)(e) of the U.P. Municipalities Act, 1916, the Municipal Board of Baraut had framed a bye law prohibiting the residing of public prostitutes and the keeping of a brothel, or the letting or other disposal of a house of building to public prostitutes or for a brothel in Patti Baru in which area the applicant resided. 3. It was alleged on behalf of the Municipal Board that the applicant was carrying on the profession of a public prostitute. The Municipal Board, accordingly, issued notice against her requiting her to vacate the prohibited area. As she failed to leave the area, she was prosecuted for the breach of byelaw No. 1966/XXIII 7(7)-42-43 framed u/s 298(H)(e) mentioned above. 4. The applicant was tried by Shri J.S. Bhatnagar, Magistrate II Class Baghpat, who convicted her and sentenced her to pay a fine of Rs. 50/- or in default to undergo simple imprisonment for one month. She was further ordered to leave the house within 15 days from the date of the order, failing which daily fine of Rs. 2/- was imposed on her. 5. The applicant went up in appeal against the said order. The learned Assistant Sessions Judge, Meerut, upheld the conviction but partly allowed the appeal by setting aside the order directing payment of a daily fine of Rs. 2/- on hex failure to vacate the area. He, however, maintained the sentence of fine of Rs. 50/- fox breach of the aforesaid bye law. 6. Dissatisfied with the said order the applicant has filed this revision application in the High Court. 7. Having heard the Learned Counsel for the applicant, I am of opinion that this revision should be allowed. Toe bye-law in question was framed u/s 298(1) of the U.P. Municipalities Act which provides that a Board may by special resolution make byelaws applicable to the whole area or any part of the Municipality for the purpose of promoting or maintaining the health, safety and convenience of the inhabitants of the Municipality and for the furtherance of Municipal administration under that Act, and for other purposes mentioned in Lists I and II of the said Section. The byelaw in question was framed under List I, (H), Sub-clause (e) which entitles the Board to frame a byelaw "prohibiting, in any specified street of area, the residing of public prostitutes and the keeping of a brothel, of the letting or other disposal of a house or building to public prostitutes or for a brothel." 8. In this particular case the applicant was not charged with the keeping of a brothel, or the letting of other disposal of a house or building to public prostitutes or for a brothel. The charge against her was that she was a public prostitute and was residing in the area in which public prostitutes were prohibited to reside. No evidence was led on behalf of the prosecution in support of its case. The conviction of the Appellant was based solely on the statement made by her in reply to a question put by the court as to whether she was residing within Patti Baru, an area within which public prostitutes are prohibited from residing. The reply given by her was as follows: Main Patti Baru men ghar ke makan men rahti hun, aur main tawaif ka pesha bhi karti hun--Chunkih mera ghar ka makan hai is lit main chhor nahin sakti. 9. (I live in Patti Baru in my residential house and also catty on the profession of a 'tawaif'. As this is my residential house, I cannot leave it). 10. This statement has been treated by both the courts as a clear admission of guilt by her and on the basis of this admission they have convicted the applicant. 11. The sole question in the case is whether the above statement of the applicant constitutes a clear admission of the fact that she is a public prostitute within the meaning of Section 298, List I (H), Sub-clause (e). The word 'prostitute' is not defined in the Muncipalities Act, In common parlance this word connotes a woman who habitually offers her person for sexual intercourse on hire or for monetary consideration or other gain. The word 'prostitute' is not defined in the Muncipalities Act, In common parlance this word connotes a woman who habitually offers her person for sexual intercourse on hire or for monetary consideration or other gain. The prostitute might be a public prosecute in case she offers herself indiscriminately in such fashion or is open to promiscuous intercourse by members of the public Such a woman may exhibit herself on the balcony of her house and attract the public in that manner or utilise anyone on her behalf to solicit public to enter her residence for the purpose. A prostitute may also be within the exclusive keeping of some particular individual in which case she might not be a public prostitute, In such a case she might be styled as a private prostitute. 12. It is significant to note that the word used in Section 298, List I (H)(e) is not prostitute per se, but the word is preceded by an adjective, namely, "public". In order, therefore, to attract the provisions of the section in respect of which the applicant was charged it is not enough that she should be a prostitute, but it is further necessary that she should be a 'public prostitute'. 13. The question in the present case is whether by admitting that she was a tawaif the applicant clearly admitted the features required to constitute a woman as a public prostitute. 14. The word 'tawaif' is translated in the dictionary of Urdu, Hindi, and English by John T. Platts, M.A. (Fifth Impression, 1930 edition) as follows: tawaif (pi. of taifa, q.v.), s.f. tribes, peoples, nations, troops, bands (particularly of dancing girls); s.f. sing. A dancing girl. 15. This word is derived from the word 'tawaif' which, according to the same dictionary, means "going round, turning, circumambulating; encompassing; making the circuit (of a holy place, as Mecon & C); pilgrimage." 16. In Hindustani and English Dictionary by Duudan Forbes, LL. D. Second Edition, 1866), the word 'tawaif' is translated as follows: Tawaif, f. (Pl. of tiafa) troops, binds (particularly of dancing girls); tribes, nations. 17. The word 'tawaif' is translated as meaning "turning, encompassing, pilgrimage". 18. It is, therefore, apparent that the word 'tawaif' when used with reference to a woman does not necessarily mean a prostitute or a public prostitute. of tiafa) troops, binds (particularly of dancing girls); tribes, nations. 17. The word 'tawaif' is translated as meaning "turning, encompassing, pilgrimage". 18. It is, therefore, apparent that the word 'tawaif' when used with reference to a woman does not necessarily mean a prostitute or a public prostitute. It is possible that a girl may be a prostitute or a public prostitute as well as a dancing girl. It very often Happens that prostitutes are dancing girls, but it does not necessarily follow that all dancing girls must be prostitutes. It is possible that a woman may take to toe profession of dancing and singing and refrain from being a prostitute of a public prostitute. In the case of a 'tawaif' the emphasis appears to be on the artistic side i.e., on the fact that the woman styling herself by that term indulges in singing and dancing and gives public exhibitions and performances of the same with a group of other musicians who are persons of net band or company and to the accompaniment of whose music she go-s round and dances. On the other band, in the case of a prostitute, the emphasis is more on the physical side, i.e. on the fact that the woman offers her body for promiscuous intercourse to other persons on hire or for gain. There is a difference between the two and in my opinion the statement made by the applicant is not a clear admission or the fact that she is a prostitute. She nowhere admitted in the trial court that she was guilty. On the other band, in the trial court the case was keenly contested on her behalf. Having been convicted by the trial court, she further contested the correct, ness of her conviction and took the matter up before the Sessions Judge. Having been convicted by the lower court, she was dissatisfied with the Said order and has now filed this revision application in this Court challenging the validity or her conviction. 19. This is a criminal case and the burden of proving all the ingredients of the offence is clearly on the prosecution. No evidence was adduced on behalf of the prosecution to prove that the applicant at any time exhibited herself in public or displayed herself on a balcony or used any means to solicit persons to visit her for any illicit purpose. No evidence was adduced on behalf of the prosecution to prove that the applicant at any time exhibited herself in public or displayed herself on a balcony or used any means to solicit persons to visit her for any illicit purpose. The prosecution relied entirely on the admission made by the applicant. Even if it be conceded for a moment that her statement conveyed with it the idea that she was a prostitute, it is not possible to stretch it further and to import within it the additional qualification that she was a public prostitute. The section under which she was prosecuted clearly required that the woman proceeded against must be a "public prostitute". It was, therefore, incumbent on the prosecution to clearly establish both the ingredients of the offence. It is to be remembered that this is a penal provision of law and for that reason, has to be construed strictly. 20. On behalf of the State it has been argued that the above statement is clearly an admission of her guilt. I, however, find it difficult to accept this contention. In order that a statement by the accused should be construed to be such an admission of guilt as to entitle the court to convict him on its sole basis, the admission in question must be clear unequivocal and unambiguous, and must be such as to cover all the ingredients of the offence. It must be unqualified, unconditional and direct. It is not possible to extract it from inferences drawn from statements couched in cloudy terms and capable of dubious constructions. I do not think that the statement of the accused in the present case fulfils there requirements. 21. In this connection it would be relevant to refer to a case Municipal Board, Etah, through The Chairman v. Asghari Jan alias Lappo (minor) through Bismilla (1932) A.L.J. & p. 117. The meaning of the word 'public prostitute' has been defined by a Bench of the Allahabad High Court in that case in the following words: The term 'public prostitute' has not been defined in the U.P. Municipalities Act. The common type of a public prostitute is a woman who exhibits herself on the balcony or other prominent part of her house to attract people. The common type of a public prostitute is a woman who exhibits herself on the balcony or other prominent part of her house to attract people. In our view, a public prostitute is a woman who usually and ^generally offers her person to sexual intercourse for hire and who openly advertises and acknowledges her occupation by word of mouth, deportment or conduct. For the bye-laws to be applicable, a woman should be not only a prostitute but a public prostitute. A great degree of moral degradation alone will attract the application of a drastic law which involves the consequence of a woman being compelled to leave her house in which she might have invested her fortune or might have other associations. It could not have been said at the date of the notice issued by the Municipal Board or when the suit was instituted that a Plaintiff was a public prostitute simply because she belonged to the caste of prostitutes or that her mother and mother's sister were public prostitutes. 22. The court found that the occupation of the girl was dancing and singing and that she had been in the exclusive keeping of a man for some time. Taking into consideration the entire evidence, the court came to the conclusion that factors brought out were not enough to establish that the girl was a 'public prostitute' and her case, therefore, was not bit by the prohibitory Municipal byelaw relating to such women. 23. On behalf of the State reliance was placed on Municipal Committee, Delhi v. Mst. Moti Jan AIR 1930 Lah. 824. In this case, the following observations were made by a Bench of the Lahore High Court at page 825: Neither the term 'prostitute' nor 'public prostitute' has been defined in the Act and though it may be said of such a woman that she is a 'prostitute' in the popular sense of that expression I do not think that the term 'public prostitute' can be applied to her. It seems to me that before a 'prostitute can be described as a 'public prostitute', it must be shown that she is available at any time to the public at large. This was obviously the view taken by Jai Lai, J. and is in my opinion a correct one. 24. It seems to me that before a 'prostitute can be described as a 'public prostitute', it must be shown that she is available at any time to the public at large. This was obviously the view taken by Jai Lai, J. and is in my opinion a correct one. 24. It is note worthy that in this case their Lordships held that in order that a woman should be labelled a public prostitute she should be "available at any time to the public at large". No such evidence was adduced in this case nor is the statement of the accused necessarily capable of that meaning. This case, therefore, instead of supporting the prosecution helps the accused. Under the above circumstances, the applicant is in my opinion entitled to an acquittal. 25. I, accordingly, allow this revision application, set aside the conviction and sentence of the applicant and direct that the fine, if paid, shall be refunded to her.