MANISHBHAI MADHUSUDANBHAI BHIMJIYANI Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner has preferred this petition under Article 227 of the Constitution of India to get the custody of muddamal vehicle being Maruti Swift Dzire VXI car having registration number GJ-03-JL-7140, which is seized by police in connection with FIR being C.R.No.III-5541 of 2019 registered with Jetpur City Police Station, District Rajkot(Rural) for offences punishable under sections 65(A) (E), 116B, 99, 98(2) and 81 etc. of the Gujarat Prohibition Act, section 279 IPC, section 184 of the MV Act and section 3 of Public Property Damages Act.

(2.) Facts giving rise to the present petition are not many and moved in a narrow compass. Maruti Swift Dzire VXI car having registration number GJ-03-JL-7140 came to be seized by Police in connection with FIR being C.R.No.III-5541 of 2019 registered with Jetpur City Police Station, District Rajkot (Rural) for offences punishable under sections 65(A)(E), 116B, 99, 98(2) and 81 etc. of the Gujarat Prohibition Act, section 279 IPC, section 184 of the MV Act and section 3 of Public Property Damages Act. The petitioner being the owner of muddamal vehicle moved an application under section 451 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 ['the code for short] before the learned Judicial Magistrate First Class, Jetpur for interim custody of the vehicle during the pendency of the Trial of the case. The learned Magistrate, by his order dated 29.08.2019, rejected the application essentially on the ground of bar contained in section 98(1) of the Prohibition Act and the quantum of sentence prescribed for the offence. The petitioner assailed the order of the learned Magistrate by preferring the Criminal Revision Application No. 31 of 2019 in the Court of Sessions Judge, Jetpur. Learned Additional Sessions Judge, Jetpur by his judgement dated 03.10.2019, confirmed the order passed by the learned Magistrate. The petitioner is therefore, before this Court with the present petition.

(3.) I have heard Mr. Atit D. Thakore, learned advocate for the petitioner and Ms. C.M.Shah, learned APP for the respondent-State.