MANU MIAN Vs. UNION TERRITORY OF TIRPURA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE six petitioners were convicted by the Munsiff -Magistrate, Belonia Under Section 6(a)(3) (sic) of the Indian Passport Act and sentenced to pay a fine of Rs. 50/ - each and in default to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one month. He further directed the O/C, Belonia Police station to remove the petitioners from Indian Territory after their release. The petitioners moved the Sessions Court in revision. But the Sessions Judge held that there was no room for interfering with the decision of the Magistrate. Now they have come in revision to this Court.

(2.) 1 have perused the entire evidence in the case of 10 P. Ws. and 5 D. Ws, I regret to say that the appreciation of the evidence of the case by both the lower Courts has been utterly perverse and a grave injustice would be done to the petitioners if the orders of the lower Courts are allowed to stand.

(3.) WE further learn from the evidence of P. W. 10 that for 3 or 4 years before the arrest litigations have been going on between the Muslims on the one hand and Hemendra, Surendra and Jagadish Sarkar on the other hand who are said to be Matbars of the Hindu Community of that village and who had also come over from Pakistan some years previously. It was also admitted by P. W. 6 Surendra that he has got a Criminal case against several Muslims of Mid -Pilak village. He admitted that about 200 Muslim families have their permanent residences in the Mid Pilak and west Pilak villages and that Jabbar Ali D. W. 1 was the leader of the Muslims and that some of the petitioners were working in the house of the said Tabbar Ali. It may be mentioned here that all the petitioners are Muslims. When we turn to the evidence of P. W. 10, we find that all the petitioners are residents of west Pilak village and they have their wives and children living with them. He mentioned that one of the petitioners Makan Ali had been living with his wife and son in the house of his brother Badi Alam who is an Indian citizen. So also Akram Ali another petitioner and his son Ayub Ali have been living with their families in the house of Badi Alam. With regard to the petitioner Ali Ajjam, P. W. 10 said that he too with his wife and son had been living in the village. Regarding another petitioner Manu Mia, he said that he with his wife and Son has been in the village for 8 to 9 years. Regarding Cherag Ali, P. W. 10 said that for H years he has been living in the village and had brought his wife to the place. P. W. 5 Pra fulla Sarkar stated that Jabbar Ali D. W. 1 and his son -in -law Sultan Ahmed have filed a case against him and 26 or 27 other persons for cutting away paddy from their land. The suggestion put to P. W. 4 Barada Kumar Choudhury was that the Hindus of the place were trying to drive away the Muslims from the west Pilak and Mid -Pilak villages. We also learn from the evidence of P. W. 4 that when he was an agent for selling kerosene on contract about 4 years before the arrest, the petitioners Akram Ali and Ayub Ali used to carry his goods every now and then.