STATE OF HARYANA Vs. ISHER DASS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Ishar Dass respondent deals in aerated water and sells it to public at his shop in the town of Panipat. On 3rd of June, 1975, Shri Jagan Nath Raheja P.W.1. Food Inspector in the company of Dr. R. Mittal P.W.2 went to the shop of the respondent. Harbhajan Singh was also joined by him. The respondent had 55 bottles of aerated water under the name of Crown Cola For public sale. After disclosing his identity, the Food Inspector purchased nine bottles of Crown Cola against payment of Rs. 13.50. Nine bottles were divided into three different parts, each part constituting of three bottles, and they were duly wrapped, turned into parcels and sealed. Labels about their identity were affixed on the samples. One sample was given to the respondent against a receipt at the spot. One sample together with two copies of form VII was sent to the Public Analyst, Haryana, through the Chief Medical Officer. The sample bore the specimen of the seal. One sample was deposited with the Senior Medical Officer, Incharge of the Civil Hospital Panipat. The Public Analyst after analysis found the sample to contain B. Coli bacteria in it. The Public Analyst found the sample unfit for human use.

(2.) After the report of the Public Analyst and after following the necessary legal formalities, the respondent was prosecuted in the court of the sub Divisional Judicial Magistrate Panipat. Jagan Nath Raheja, Food Inspector, P.W.1 and Dr. R. Mittal P.W.2 were examined in support of the prosecution case. They proved the taking of the sample from the respondent. Jagan Nath Raheja P.W.1 testified to the giving of one sample to the respondent and sending the other to the Public Analyst through the Chief Medical Officer and the deposit of the third with the Senior Medical Officer at Panipat. Shri A.N. Mehta P.W.3, a Clerk of the office of the Chief Medical Officer, Karnal, proved the arrival of the sample in that office on 4th of June, 1975 and its onward transmission to the Public Analyst on the same day through a special messenger.

(3.) The respondent in his statement under section 313 of the Criminal P.C. 1973, admitted the taking of the sample from him. He contended that the sample was not sent to the Public Analyst after putting in ice. He pleaded that he used tap water supplied by the Municipal Committee. He questioned the authority of the Public Analyst to analyse and examine the sample for the purpose of bacteriological test in view of the notification issued by the Director of Public Health, Haryana. He pleaded that he was unemployed for the past five years and suffered exzema on both the legs and had heavy family obligations to discharge. The accused examined his landlord Narain Dass as D.W.2 to depose that Municipal water tap was the only source of water available to the respondent in his premises on rent with the respondent. Shri Balwant singh, Assistant in the office of the Chief Medical Officer, Karnal, D.W.1 tendered Exhibit D.A., copy of a letter issued by the Director of Health Services in May, 1976.