EMPEROR Vs. KESHAVLAL TRIBHUVANDAS PANCHAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE appellant and one Ishwarlal were tried by the Sessions Judge at Ahmedabad with the aid of assessors for offences punishable under the Explosive Substances Act, 1908. Originally both the accused were charged under Section 6 read with Sections 3 and 4(a) of the said Act and the appellant was in the alternative charged under Section 4(b). It was alleged that, at the instance of accused No. 2 Ishwarlal and from the wooden patterns supplied by him, the appellant prepared in October, 1942, and early in November, 1942, in his iron foundry at Ahmedabad cast-iron bomb shells and their screw caps, knowing or having reason to believe that the shells would be used as containers of explosive substance and with intent by means thereof to cause unlawfully and maliciously explosions of a nature likely to endanger life or cause serious injury jo property in British India, and by making and supplying those containers, which were adapted for causing or aiding in causing an explosion with an explosive substance, they intentionally aided and abetted the commission of offences punishable under Sections 3 and 4(a) of the Act, which were committed at the Ghee Kanta Police Chowkey on December 1, 1942, at the Ellis Bridge Police Chowkey on November 6, 1942, and at the Rangila Police Chowkey on November 22, 1942. THE alternative charge referred to the manufacture of bomb shells with intent to enable another by means thereof to endanger life or cause serious injury to property in British India. After the evidence was recorded and the arguments on both sides were heard, the former charge was dropped as against the appellant. Three of the assessors found the appellant to be guilty and Ishwarlal to be not guilty. THE learned Judge, agreeing with them, acquitted accused No. 2 Ishwarlal and convicted the appellant under Section 4(b) of the Explosive Substances Act, 1908, and sentenced him to rigorous imprisonment for two years.

(2.) IN the months of November and December, 1942, bombs were thrown in different places in Ahmedabad, and some of them resulted in explosions. Three of them were included in the charge. Of those the first one was the bomb thrown on the Ellis Bridge Police Chowkey on November 6, 1942. It broke the glass of a window and the Police Sub-INspector Mr. Chinoy found the bomb lying in the verandah. As its fuse was extinguished, it did not explode and was placed by him in water in a bucket. It was a bomb of the shape of a motor-horn bulb and it is article No. 17 before the Court. Thereafter another bomb was thrown at Rangila Police Chowkey on November 22, 1942. That bomb also did not explode as the fuse got extinguished prematurely. The Head Constable Abdul Hussein picked it up and placed it in a bucket of water. It is of the shape of a cylindrical barrel and is article No. 16 before the Court. The third bomb mentioned in the charge was thrown at the Ghee Kanta Police Chow-key on December 1, 1942, at about 3-30 p. m. It exploded with a loud noise and two constables were injured. A young man was seen cycling hurriedly past the window of the Police Chowkey, but was not identified or traced. The Assistant Superintendent of Police went there and took charge of the pieces of the exploded bomb. Those pieces when assembled made a bomb shell of the motor horn bulb type similar to article No. 17. Article No. 1 contains those pieces of the bomb and articles Nos. 2 and 3 are its screw caps.

(3.) THE appellant was arrested on December 14 and produced before a Magistrate on the next day. He was subsequently arrested under the Defence of India Rules on December 21, 1942, and detained in police custody under Rule 129. When he was in such custody his confession was recorded by the City Magistrate, First Class, in the sub-jail on January 30, 1943. After completing the investigation the Sub-Inspector sent a charge-sheet against him on April 27, 1943. THE bombs found were sent to the Inspector of Explosives and his opinion was received on June 12, 1943. THE sanction for the prosecution of the appellant and Ishwarlal for offences under the Explosive Substances Act, as required by Section 7, was received from Government on July 13, 1943. ,