GANGA Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an application of revision filed by one Ganga who was convicted under Section 379 I. P. C. by the Railway Magistrate, Lucknow, but the learned Sessions Judge when the case came up in appeal before him altered the conviction to one under Section 411, I. P. C.

(2.) Briefly stated the facts of the case are that one Sri Mathur, a passenger, was travelling by a train and one Latif picked his pocket at the Charbagh platform. Sri Mathur immediately detected the loss of his purse and he found Latif and the applicant running away together. He raised an alarm and pursued the two and the other persons present on the platform also joined in this pursuit. Latif and the applicant were arrested and then their persons were searched. The purse was found on the person of the applicant. Sri Mathur had further stated that he saw Latif handing over the purse to the applicant. It was on this basis that both Latif and Ganga were prosecuted. The Magistrate came to the conclusion that the two Were acting in concert and so convicted both Latif and Ganga under Section 379 I. P. C. The appellate court maintained the conviction of Latif under Section 379 but altered the conviction of Ganga to one under Section 411 I. P. C.

(3.) The counsel for the applicant has contended before me that the appellate court was not justified in making this alteration under the provisions of Section 237 Cr. P. C. He contended that Section 237, Cr. P. C. can be acted upon only by the trial court and the appellate court cannot act under the provisions of this Section. For this contention reliance was placed upon certain observations of a learned Judge of this Court reported in Mangal Singh v. Rex AIR 1949 All 599 (A). The learned Judge who decided this case observed as follows: