JAGDISH RAI Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Jagdish Rai appellant was convicted under Section 3 of Railway Stores (Unlawful Possession) Act, 1955 by Magistrate I Class, Chapra and was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of one year. On appeal Additional sessions Judge, Chapra confirmed the conviction and sentence. Revision petition filed by Jagdish Rai was dismissed in limine by the High Court of Patna. The appellant thereafter filed appeal by special leave in this Court.

(2.) The prosecution case is that on August 9, 1964 at about 6.45 a.m. Ramji Pandey, Sainik in the Railway Protection Force, was on duty in the upyard Sonepur railway platform. When Ramji Pandey, in the course of checking, arrived near a coach, he saw the accused coming out from beneath the coach after tying something in his Gamchha. Ramji Pandey asked the accused to stop, but the accused fled towards the East. Ramji Pandey chased the accused and raised alarm, whereupon Goga Singh (PW 1) and Ram Ekbal Singh (PW 3), Rakshaks in the Railway Protection Force, and one Sheo Singh joined Ramji Pandey. With their help the accused was secured. The accused was found to have tied in his Gamchha a dynamo belt containing the letters "T.L.I. Seener" and a knife measuring 11 digits. The dynamo belt of the coach, from under which the accused had been seen coming out, was found to be missing. The accused was then taken to Ram Bilas Singh (PW 5), Officer Incharge of Railway Protection Force Sonepur. The Dynamo belt, knife and the Gamchha were also produced before Ram Bilas Singh. Ram Bilas Singh forwarded the accused along with a report as well as the dynamo belt, knife and the Gamchha to Bhagwat Narain Chaudhary (PW 6), Incharge of Sonepur Government Railway Police Station. On the basis of the report sent by Ram Bilas Singh, Bhagwat Narain Choudhary prepared first information report.

(3.) The dynamo belt recovered from the accused, according to the prosecution case, showed that it was railway property and was used in coaches for generating electricity.