STATE OF KERALA Vs. MOHAMMED

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is an appeal by the State against the order of acquittal of the two accused persons in C. C. No. 1222 of 1962 on the file of the Sub-Magistrate, Kuthuparamba.

(2.) THE charge against them was that accused No. 1, the driver of motor lorry No. MYV. 1654 and accused No. 2 the driver of bus No. K. L. C. 1415 were driving their motor vehicles in opposite directions rashly and negligently and in a manner endangering human life collided with each other and caused hurt to a passenger in the bus and thereby committed the offences punishable under S. 279 and 357 I. P. C.

(3.) THE stand taken by the prosecutor is that there is no legal bar to the joint trial of the two accused as the offences with which they stood charged were committed in the course of the same transaction coming under clause (a) of S. 239 Criminal Procedure Code. In support of the position that the collision between the vehicles is to be taken as the transaction in the course of which the offences were committed, reliance was placed on the decision of the Madras High Court in Balliah v. Emperor (1931 Mad. Weekly Notes 556) which was referred to with approval in In re Vankayalapati (AIR. 1956 andhra 21 ). As against this the learned defence counsel cited the decisions of the Travancore-Cochin High Court and the Saurashtra High Court relied upon by the learned Magistrate.