STATE OF GUJARAT Vs. TRIBHOVANDAS GORDHANDAS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The respondents are the original accused persons who came to be tried by the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate at Bhavnagar for the offences punishable under Sections 3 and 5 of (The) Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act 1978 (`the Act for short) in Criminal Case No. 1199 of 1984.

(2.) The accused persons pleaded guilty to the charges upon which the accused persons came to be convicted for the aforesaid offences and each of the accused is sentenced to a fine of Rs. 500 and in default to undergo 30 days rigorous imprisonment The documents were ordered to be returned to be accused persons. Being aggrieved by the said order of sentence the appellate-State has come up in this appeal for enhancement of the sentence by invoking the aids of the provisions of Section 377 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 (`the Code for short hereinafter) Considering the peculiar facts and circumstances and the intervening time-lag which is more than ten years there will be no justification for ordering enhancement of the sentence awarded by the Trial Court.

(3.) The accused persons were charged for having committed offences punishable under Sections 3 and 5 of the Act it would be therefore necessary to refer the said provision. Section 3 of the Act prescribes that no person shall promote or conduct any prize chit or money circulation scheme or enroll as a member to any such chit or scheme or participate in it otherwise or receive or remit any money in pursuance of such chit or scheme. Section 4 of the Act prescribes penalty for contravening the provisions of Section 3 Section 4 of the Act reads as under: