NARENDRA GOSWAMI Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS appeal is under Rule 21 of the Rules for the Administration of Justice and Police in the Sib -sagar and Nowgong Mikir Hills Tracts read with Assam Regulation No. 10 of 1951, against an order of conviction passed by the learned District Magistrate of the United Mikir and North Cachar Hills. The appeal is on behalf of two persons, Narendra Goswami and Khagendra Barua who were convicted Under Section 19(f), Arms Act, and sentenced to two years' rigorous imprisonment for alleged possession of a stengun without license.

(2.) THE case for the prosecution is that Lall Chand Namasudra, a Police Sub -Inspector, getting information from private sources about the illicit possession of a gun by Narendra Goswami arrived with some other persons in his company on 23 -5 -50 at the house at Bokajan where Narendra Goswami was staying. It was in the early hours of the morning and he roused from sleep Narendra Goswami as well as Khagendra Barua who lived in the neighbouring house in the same compound. The Police Sub -Inspector somehow induced them to go and point out the place where they had secreted a stengun and both of them followed him to a plot of jungle land about half a mile away from the Bokajan bazar where the accused persons were staying and there, Khagendra Barua took out a stengun wrapped in rags and straw from under the jungle after a mutual talk between themselves as to the production of the gun.

(3.) IT is correct to say that the reference to the Naga or what he said is inadmissible and the learned District Magistrate was not justified either in thinking that the accused had any responsibility to prove their innocence. But taking the evidence as a whole into consideration which is admissible and relevant, that comes from the three witnesses, the Police Sub -Inspector and the two search witnesses, we must see how far the conviction can stand legitimately against either or both the accused persons.