ABHAYANAND MISHRA Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant has been convicted by the learned Additional Sessions Judge of Patna under Section 420/511 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to undergo two years' rigorous imprisonment besides a fine of Rs. 500/-, in default to 6 months further rigorous imprisonment. The charge against the appellant was that he attempted to cheat the University of Bihar by submitting two applications one in the preliminary form (marked X) and the other in the final form (marked Y) seeking permission to sit for the M. A. Examination of 1954 although he had not passed the B. A. examination.

(2.) The appellant was a B.A. Student of Tejnarain Jubilee College at Bhagalpur. He appeared at the supplementary B. A. examination of 1951 from Bhagalpur centre. He was however, found adopting unfair means at the examination hall whereupon he was debarred by the University from appearing at any University examination prior to the supplementary examination of 1953. On 4-9-53 a preliminary application in the prescribed form for permission to sit tor the M.A. examination of 1954 as a private candidate was received in the University office. The application purported to bear the signature of appellant Abhayanand Mishra and certificates from the local authorities, viz., (1) the Head Master of Jaglal Vidyalaya, Bhagalpore, where the applicant claimed to be occupied as a teacher since leaving College, (2) the District Inspector of Schools, Bhagalpur, and (3) the Divisional Inspector of Schools, Bhagalpur Division. The forwarding note purporting to bear the signatures of the Headmaster and the District Inspector of Schools and the one purporting to bear the signature of the Inspector of Schools stated that the statements made in the application had been varified and found to be correct. All these signatures of the local authorities and the seals of their respective offices were all bogus and fabricated. The Registrar of the University however, without suspecting any foul play granted the application. A letter dated 22-12-53 was accordingly sent to appellant Abhayanand Mishra (Exhibit 1) informing him that he had been permitted to appear at the M.A. English examination to be held in 1954 as a private student with Group A as his special paper. He was also asked to send the examination tee and the final application form through the Divisional Inspector of Schools or the principal of a Degree College affiliated with the University. A copy of the application form was also enclosed with the letter. The applicant was further asked to send two copies of his attested photographs along with his application. In due course, the final application (marked Y) was received in the University office along with an examination fee of Rs. 85/- and two photographs of the applicant. It is no longer disputed that the signature of the Inspector of Schools below the forwarding note on this application was also forged. So far as the two photographs are concerned, it is admitted that they are the photographs of the appellant. In due course, admit cards were forwarded to the. Principal, T.N.J. College, Bhagalpore, who was the Superintendent of Examinations. It may be mentioned that the original date of commencement of the M. A. examination was on 12-4-1954, but it was later on extended to 5-7-1954. The fraud came to light in May 1954. Mr. B. B. Mazumdar, an Inspector of Colleges, Bihar University, had gone to Monghyr in the first week of May on a tour of inspection. While he was inspecting the local college a young man of 28 or 30-years, who looked like a student, came to him and told him that a student named Abhayanand Mishra, who had not passed his B.A. examination, had been permitted by the University to appear at the M.A. examination. Mr. Mazumdar noted the name & on return to Patna spoke about it to the Registrar and the Controller of Examinations of Bihar University. The University authorities immediately started an investigation and it was discovered that the appellant had not passed his B.A. examination and that a circular had also been issued debarring him from taking any University examination prior to the supplementary examination of 1953 On 22-5-54 the Registrar requested the Principal of T.N. Jubilee College, Bhagalpore, to return all the admit cards of candidates for the M.A. examination which was to be held in July 1954. The Principal returned 17 admit cards including the one standing in the name of Abhayanand Mishra. The remaining 18, out of the total 35 admit cards had already been distributed among the students. On the same day, that is, on 22-5-54 the Controller also wrote a letter to Abhyanand Mishra at his village address asking him to submit his original B.A. diploma. A third letter written by the Controller to the Inspector of Schools, Bahgalpure Division, on 22-5-54 elicited the reply that Abhyanand Mishra had served as a teacher in Jag-lal Vidyalaya, Bhagalpore, in a leave vacancy for a short period from the 14th February to 22-3-1949 and that thereafter he never served in that school. So far as the letter issued by the Controller to Abhyanand Mishra at his village address was concerned, no reply was received. A telegram was thereupon sent to him at the same address asking him to comply with the direction about submission of his B, A. diploma. No reply was received by the University to this telegram either. Thereafter, on 29-6-54 the applicant's name was removed from the roll of examinees. On 27-9-54 the Registrar of the University sent a written report about the case to the officer-in-charge, Pirbahore police station, Patna, and it was on the basis of this report that the first information report was drawn up. The police after investigation submitted charge-sheet against the appellant. He was charged in the court below under Section 465 and Section 420/511 of the Indian Penal Code. The learned Judge held that there were no materials in support of the charge under Section 465 of the Indian Penal Code but that the charge under Section 420/511 of the Indian-Penal Code had been brought home to the appellant. He accordingly acquitted the appellant of the former charge and convicted him under Section 420/511.

(3.) The defence was a plea of innocence. The appellant denied that he had sent the applications X and Y, to the University or the photographs or any money whatsoever. He suggested that one Naresh Mohan Mishra, who was his enemy, had somehow obtained copies of his photographs and forged his signatures on the two application forms, X and Y, and sent them to the University. The same man was alleged to have informed Mr. B. B. Mazumdar about it with a view to put the appellant in trouble.