SHIV SHANKAR Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS petition has been brought under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure seeking quashment of the charge framed under Section 63 of the Copy Rights Act against the petitioner on the allegation that on December 31, 1985, at about 2.00 P.M. the petitioner was found selling pirated books under the title of 'Rage of Angels', 'Blood Line' and others mentioned in the recovery memo annexure 'A' totalling 159 books.

(2.) THE case was registered on the basis of a complaint filed by R.K. Mehra of M/s. Rupa and Company alleging that a number of books which are distributed or published by M/s. Rupa and Company are pirated and are being sold by different persons and it was mentioned that the petitioner was selling such books at his stall M/s. S. S. Book Stall on the footpath at the corner of LIC Ground, Parliament Street. On the basis of this complaint a raiding party was constituted comprising of two witnesses, namely, Vijay Kumar and Vinod Kumar and that raiding party is stated to have raided the bookstall on the footpath at the corner of LiC Ground, Parliament Street, at about 1.45 P.M. and a signboard of S.S. Book Stall stood displayed at a tree and one of the pirated book titled 'Coma' written by Robin Cook was offered for sale to Vijay Kumar by the petitioner and thus, the petitioner was arrested and other books displayed on the footpath were taken into possession vide recovery memo. The petitioner had pleaded in this petition that in fact, the petitioner has his regular bookstall at a different place and has nothing to do with the books being displayed and sold at the footpath at the corner of LIC Ground, Parliament Street, New Delhi. The petitioner had filed a criminal revision against the order framing the charge but that criminal revision came to be dismissed.