JAGMAL RAJA Vs. CROWN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS judgment will deal with two petitions by Shri Jagmal Raja, the first Under Section 661a and the second Under Section 439 Criminal P. C.

(2.) THE petitioner is one of fire accused against whom a case is pending Under Section 161, Penal Code, Section 5 (2) (d), Prevention of Corruption Act, ii [3] of 1947 and Section 109, Penal Code. The other four accused involved in the case are Mr. N. N. Mitra, who at the time of the alleged offence was Secretary to the Air Transport Licensing Board, Mr. Dhanvin B. Shukla, Mr. Vijaysingh Govindji and Mr. Bahadursingh Vijaysingh. The accused other than Mr. Mitra are connected with the company known as the Ambica Air Lines Ltd,, of Bombay, Mr. Shukla being the representative of the firm in Delhi while the other three, according to the prosecution allegations, are partners in the firm Govindji and Sons who are the managing agents of Ambica Air Lines Ltd. The case againbt the accused is that this company at the end of the year 1947 had an application pending before the Air Transport Licensing Board for the licensing of various air routes, and in order to obtain favourable consideration for this application a bribe of Rs. 12,000 was paid by the company to Mr. Mitra. The method of payment of the bribe was that a cheque for Rs. 19,000 signed by Bahadursinh Vijaysingh aocused as a partner in the firm of managing agents and drawn on the New Delhi branch of the Central Bank of India in the account of Atnbika Air Lines Ltd. was paid to Messrs. Prem Nath Motors Ltd. of New. Delhi; in consideration for this cheque a new Oldsmobile Cat No. DLA 1234 was delivered to Mr. Mitra on and Janu. ary 1948. It is alleged that the negotiations were carried out through Mr. Shukla aocused and that the three partners of the firm of managing agents were liable, one of them for having drawn the cheque and the other two for having abetted the transaction. Owing to the fact that the Punjab Public Safety Act was in force in Delhi Province the case has been tried according to the procedure for the trial of summons oases. Under this procedure what was in effect the charge against each of the accused was read out to him and he was asked to show cause why he should not be convicted. The gist of the statements of the accused recorded in this manner was that the car had been purchased by Mr. Mitra under hire-purchase agreement with the company called the Jayant Trading Corporation, Ltd. of Bombay, and that the cheque had been drawn on the account of Ambica Air Lines Ltd. at Delhi simply for convenience, as the Jayant Trading Corporation had bo account at Delhi. It was denied that the present petitioner was partner in the manging agency, his own statement being as follows: I plead not guilty to the charges. I had no knowledge of this transaction. I was not even in Bombay at the time this transaction took place, I am not a partner of the managing ageney of the Ambioa All Linea Ltd. , Bombay, though I am a Director of the Steamship Navigation Co. , along with six others, whioh Navigation Company is a partner in the said managing agency. I did not even know Mitra co-accused.

(3.) ON 16th June 1949, the prosecution evidence, whioh consisted of the statements of 25 witnesses and a considerable amount of documentary evidence was olosed, Qn 17th june an application was put in on behalf of the present petitioner Under Section 249, Criminal P. C. for his immediate release. The section in question, which falls in the chapter dealing with the trial of Bumons cases, reads: In any case instituted otherwise than upon complaint, a Presidency Magistrate, a Magistrate of the first class, or with the previous sanction of the District Magistrate, any other Magistrate may, for reasons to be recorded by him, stop the proceedings at any stage without pronouncing any judgment either of acquittal or conviction, and may thereupon release the accused. The grounds on which it was sought to apply the provisions of B, 249, were that the prosecution had not produced any evidence at all whioh pointed to the guilt of the petitioner, and that although the chapter relating to the trial of summons cases did not contain any specific provisions for the discharge of the accused at any intermediate stage in case such as are contained in Section 253 relating to the trial of warrant cases, Section 249 could be applied for the purpose of passing an order which would have the same effect in a case in which the prosecution evidence did not establish a case against one out of a number of accused. The learned Additional District Magistrate declined to go into the question whether any case was established against the petitioner by the prosecution evidence, but held that he was bound to continue the trial under the provisions of 8. 244, and then record an order either of acquittal or of conviction, and that Section 249 applied to a different set of circumstances and only came into play where the Court, for reasons to be recorded, was not prepared to pronounce a judgment of acquittal or conviction. In other words, the section only applied where circumstances prevented a Court from proceeding to the final determination of the points involved in the case, and it would not apply to a case where the prosecution had adduced evidence in accordance with the provisions of Section 244. On this the petitioner filed two petitions in the Court of the Sessions Judge, one Under Sectiona. 435 and 438, Criminal P, C. , against the order of the trial Court refusing to stop proceedings against the petitioner Under Section 249, Criminal P. C. , and the other Under Section 561a, Criminal P. C. , for the ease to be forwarded to this Court with the recommendation that the proceedings against the petitioner be quashed. The applications were by way of being alternatives, the relief sought being the quashing of the proceedings against the petitioner either under the inherent powers of the High Court Under Section 561a or else Under Section 249, Criminal P. C. Both these applications were dismissed by the learned Sessions Judge and similar petitions have now been filed in this Court.