DOVA OF LUNGDAI Vs. THE STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS rule was obtained by the accused who was convicted under Section 497 of the Indian Penal Code by the First Class Magistrate at Aijal and sentenced to one year's rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 1000/ -. On an appeal to the Deputy Commissioner, the sentence was reduced to a fine of Rs. 1,000/ - only. It is against this order of the appellate Court that the petitioner moved this Court and obtained a rule.

(2.) THE ease for the prosecution was that Tlangbiakthanga of Lungdai filed a complaint against the accused Dova of Lungdai for alleged commission of an offence of adultery with his wife Hmangaihi. His case was that he was working in an operational area after his marriage leaving his wife at his house at Lungdai village since 1957 as the service men were not allowed to take their wives and children with them while working in an operational zone.

(3.) MR . Choudhary for the accused has submitted before us that since the commission of adultery is a matter that might be tried under the tribal custom, the criminal Court should not have tried this case at all. We have before us no material in any form or shape, far less a statute, to indicate that the question of adultery between the tribals should be decided by a District Council Court coming within Paragraph 4 of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India and we cannot hold that the trial by the Magistrate was wrong.