STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH Vs. K K SHIVHARE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is an appeal against acquittal of the respondent Krishna Kumar Shivhare or K. K. Shivhare alias K. K. Gupta of the offences punishable under Sections 417 and 471, Penal Code. The trial Court convicted him of both these offences and sentenced him to suffer rigorous imprisonment for six months and one year respectively. The appellate Court acquitted him.

(2.) CASE for the prosecution was that in July 1960, the accused secured admission to the L. L. B. (Previous) Class of the Hamidia College, Bhopal, by representing to the College authorities that he had obtained the degree of Bachelor of Arts from the Agra University, and the degree of Master of Arts from the Punjab University, and by producing a false copy purporting to ha of the degree of Master of Articles In fact, the accused had not passed any of these examinations and did not possess either of these degrees. When suspicion arose about the eligibility of the accused for admission to the L. L. B. (Previous) Class, he approached the Principal for a transfer certificate. The Principal, on making preliminary enquiries confidentially, came to know that the attested copy of the degree of Master of Arts was bogus. Therefore, on 9 November 1960, he issued a notice to the accused to produce his original certificate. The accused told the Principal on the phone that he would do so on the 11th November as he had sent a man to get the same from his home at Bina. He also insisted on being granted a transfer certificate. Then the accused suddenly disappeared from Bhopal.

(3.) THE defence was that the accused is not that Krishna Kumar Shivhare who applied to the Hamidia College for admission and who produced the attested copy of the M. A. degree. He asserted that he had already been practising as an Advocate from 1953 so that the question of his seeking admission to a Law College in 1960 did not arise.