BRAHMDEO PRASAD Vs. STATE OF BIHAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner has been convicted under Section 13(1) read with Section 5 and Section 8(1) of the Rice Milling Industry (Regulation) Act, 1958 (Act No. 21 of 1958) and has been sentenced to pay a fine of Rs. 500/ - in default to undergo rigorous imprisonment for three months. On the 1st of March, 1966, The Block Development Officer, Sultanganj (P. W. 3), visited the premises alleged to belong to the petitioner. There, he found a rice -Mill being worked with power. He further found 56 kilogrammes of husk mixed with rice and two bags of paddy husk. The prosecution case against the petitioner is that he had expanded his flour mill into a rice mill for the purpose of crushing paddy through huller system without obtaining a permit under Section 5 of the Rice Milling Industry (Regulation) Act, 1958, and thus he had contravened Section 8(1) and was punishable under Section 13(1) of the said Act.

(2.) The defence of the petitioner was that he had no rice mill at all. According to his case, the mill, which was found working by P. W. 3, belonged to his step -brother, who was separate from him.... Two witnesses including the stepbrother were examined in support of the defence.

(3.) The court below have accepted the prosecution case and have convicted and sentenced the petitioner as mentioned above.