STATE OF GUJARAT Vs. PATEL MANILAL JOITARAM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Feeling aggrieved by and dissatisfied with the judgment and order of acquittal dtd. 5/1/2008, passed by the learned Special Judge, Mehsana, in Special Electricity Case No.40 of 2007, for the offences punishable under Sec. 135 of the Indian Electricity Act, the appellant - State of Gujarat has preferred this appeal under Sec. 378 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short, "the Code").

(2.) The prosecution case as unfolded during the trial before the lower Court is that while the complainant was performing his duties as a Deputy Executive Engineer, with Uttar Gujarat Electricity Co., Ltd., Vijapur Sub Division, Vijapur, he visited the place of the respondent-accused at village Mahadevpura (Gawada) Taluka Vijapur, District Mehsana, for the purpose of checking the electric line, and at the relevant point of time, respondent-accused Manilal Joitaram Patel was found using the electricity directly from low transmission line; therefore, the bill of Rs.3978.44 ps. was prepared and issued to the respondent towards the theft of electricity, which was not paid by the respondent and accordingly, complaint was filed before the GEB Sabarmati Police Station, Sabarmati for the alleged offence.

(3.) After usual investigation, sufficient prima facie evidence was found against the accused person/s and therefore, charge-sheet was filed in the competent criminal Court. Since the offence alleged against the accused person/s was exclusively triable by the Special Court, the learned Magistrate committed the case to the Special Court where it came to be registered as Special Electricity Case No.40 of 2007. The charge was framed against the accused person/s. The accused pleaded not guilty and came to be tried.