(1.) THE question for this Division Bench is-Whether a Food Inspector functioning as such under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act is a police officer or not within the meaning of the expression 'police officer' appearing in Section 25 of the Indian Evidence Act?
(2.) THE facts are shortly as follows. The two accused, Bashir Khan and Rashid Khan, are being tried on a complaint by the Food Inspector under Section 7 of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act. 1954 : read with Rule 44 of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Rules 1955. They are charged with having sold an admixture of cow's and buffalo's milk, which is an offence under Section 16 of the Act. One piece of evidence against them was an alleged statement by one of the accused to the Food Inspector to the effect that the milk in question was neither pure Cow's milk nor buffalo's milk but was a mixture of both. On objection by the accused the learned trying Magistrate sustained their objection that the confessional statement was inadmissible under Section 25 of the Evidence Act on the hypothesis that the Food Inspector, who investigated into the offence, being invested under Section 10 (8) of the Act with the powers of a police officer under Section 57 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, was a "police officer" within the meaning of the section. Being aggrieved, the Food Inspector preferred a revision before the learned Additional Sessions Judge, who reported the matter under Section 438 of the Code, for setting aside the order of the learned Magistrate. The reference was heard by a learned Single Judge, and in view of the importance of the question, he referred the same to a larger Bench.
(3.) SUB-SECTION (8) of Section 10 of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954 reads as follows- 10 (8 ).-- Any food inspector may exercise the powers of a police officer under Section 57 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (5 of 1898) for the purpose of ascertaining the true name and residence of the person from whom a sample is taken or an article of food is seized.