STATE OF MAHARASHTRA Vs. UMAJI GANGARAM SALUNKHE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The State has filed this application for enchancement of the sentence The respondent-accused was put up before the Magistrate for the offence under section 85(1) of the Bombay Prohibition Act as it then stood. The offence was said to have been committed on 16-11-1972 and e was put up before the Magistrate on 17-11-1972 on which date he admitted his guilt and he was sentenced to S.I for one day and to pay a fine of Rs. 25/- in defualt to suffer further S.I for 7 days.

(2.) The charge against the accused was tat he consumed country liquor on 16-11-1972 without permit and unlawfully and he was unable to take care of himself and he was found drunk on a public road.

(3.) It has been contended that the sentence passed by the learned Magistrate is illegal, as under section 85(1)(3) the minimum sentence for the first offence is imprisonment for a term which may extent to one month and fine which may extend to two hundred rupees and in the absence of special and adequate reasons to the contrary even such imprisonment shall not be less than seven days and fine shall not be less than twenty-five rupees. The learned Magistrate therefore, according to the State, could not have give a sentence of less than seven days and impose a fine not less than Rs. 25/- in any case.