AJIT SINGH Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) AJIT Singh petitioner was found distilling illicit liquor by working a still. He was held guilty Under Section 61 (1) (c) of the Punjab Excise Act and convicted accordingly by the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Gurdaspur on November 24, 1978. He was sentenced to one year's rigorous imprisonment and a fine Sessions Judge, Gurdaspur, not only upheld his conviction but also confirmed the sentence. Feeling aggrieved, he has now come up by way of revision.

(2.) IN short, the prosecution case is that on April 9, 1977 Jagir Singh, Assistant Sub-Inspector of Police Station Kalanaur along with Ram Singh Constable and others went to village Khushipur where Mohinder Singh Sarpanch was joined in the raiding party and raided the house of the petitioner who was then feeding fire in the hearth underneath the working still. He was arrested and thereafter the component parts of the still including the receiver hottle containing 570 M/s. of liquor, were taken into possession. A sample was taken out of the liquor and sent to the Chemical Examiner, who tested the same and found its contents to be of illicit liquor. After necessary investigation, the petitioner was challaned and sent up for trial. He was convicted and sentenced as indicated above.

(3.) THE prosecution evidence which has been unreservedly accepted by both the Courts below primarily consists of the testimony of Kuldip Singh, Excise-Inspector P. W. 2, Ram Singh Constable, P. W. 3 and Jagir Singh, Assistant Sub-Inspector, P. W. 4, Mohinder Singh Sarpanch, P. W. , having gone hostile refused to support the prosecution case. The trial Court unhesitatingly confirmed that the plea taken up by the petitioner was merely a cock and bull story and rejected it out of hand. The appellate Court affirmed the said finding.