STATE OF MAHARASHTRA Vs. NAND KISHORE DURGAPRASAD PARDESHI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This State appeal is directed against the acquittal of the respondent of the offence punishable under section 7(v) read with 16 of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act by the learned Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Pune, in Criminal Case No. 1470 of 1981.

(2.) The facts leading to the prosecution of the respondent are fully stated by the learned Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate in his judgment and for decisions of this appeal it is not necessary to reproduce all those facts.

(3.) On 7th May, 1981 the accused was found selling orange sarbat on his hand cart. The Food Inspector obtained the sample. It was sent to the Public Analyst. The Public Analyst found that it contained saccharin, a non-permitted artificial sweetener. Therefore, the accused was prosecuted for the aforesaid offence. The learned trial Magistrate found that the prosecution had failed to prove that the saccharin was used in the sarbat beyond the proportion allowed under Appendix B to the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act and, therefore, he acquitted the respondent accused.