CHUNGUR Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an application in revision filed by Changur who ha3 been convicted under Section 60, Clause (a) of Excise Act for being in possession of two seers of contraband Nepali Ganja. He was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for three months. He appealed but the learned Sessions Judge of Gonda upheld the conviction and the sentence. The applicant has come up in revision. It is contended on his behalf that his conviction is bad for the following reasons: (1) that he was arrested not by an Excise Officer but by the villagers belonging to the village defence party and consequently the arrest was illegal; (2) that no report of the Chemical Examiner was produced to show that the Ganja recovered was Nepali contraband Ganja; and (3) that the prosecution was initiated by a Sub-Inspector of Police and not by an Excise Officer and consequently the applicant could not be convicted under Section 60 (a), Excise Act.

(2.) It appears that on the night between the 3rd and 4th September 1949, at about midnight the village defence party of village Magoiya saw 8 or 10 men with bundles on their heads. They along with the village Chaukidar chased these persons and caught six of them. The bundles on being opened at the house of Fateh Bahadur Mukhis nearby were found to contain Ganja. The persons arrested were thereupon taken to police station Chapia where the Sub-Inspector took possession of the Ganja and sealed it. Later this Ganja was sent to the Excise Inspector who examined it and found it to be contraband Nepali Ganja. The six persons were prosecuted and they have been convicted and among those persons was Changur who has come up in revision.

(3.) A reference to Emperor v. Chunni, 6 Luck. 646 shows that as early as 13th July 1910, the Government issued a notification authorising, among others all police officers including the Provincial Chaukidari force, town, village and road chaukidars, to perform the acts and duties mentioned in Section 50. Excise Act. This notification was issued under Section 50 by virtue of the powers conferred upon the Government by Section 10 of the Act and under Section 3 Clause (4), Excise Act the Chaukidar thereupon became an Excise Officer and an arrest by him under the provisions of Section 60 was a valid arrest in pursuance of the Excise Act. No objection can, therefore, be taken to the arrest.