MANINDRO NATH MITTER Vs. BENGAL NAGPUR RAILWAY CO

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This was a Rule calling upon the District Magistrate to show cause why the conviction and sentence passed upon, the petitioner should not be set aside, on the ground that the facts found did not disclose the commission of any offence under Section 112 of the Railways Act (Act IX of 1890).

(2.) Section 112 of the Act makes it an offence in any person to enter a railway carriage in contravention of Section 68 of the Act with intent to defraud a Railway administration and Section (58 provides that no person shall, without the permission of a Railway servant, enter any carriage on a Railway for the purpose of travelling therein as a passenger unless he has with him a proper pass or ticket.

(3.) In the present case the petitioner was travelling on the 3 May by a railway train, and when called upon to produce his ticket by a ticket checker he produced a ticket dated the 2nd of May. Now, it appears that though the ticket contained nothing on the face of it to show that this was the case, yet the rules of the Railway Company are that a ticket is only available for the particular railway journey for which it is issued and if a person is unable to travel, by the train by which he intended to travel then he ought to go back to the Station Master for a refund of the money he paid for the ticket. When he was called upon to produce his ticket, it is alleged, and found as a fact, that he had in his possession another ticket, similar to the ticket he produced, which he threw away; and when it was explained to him that this ticket was not available on that day, he offered to pay the fare. Now, the question is whether these facts justify a conviction for a breach of the provisions of Section 112 of the Railways Act, bearing in mind that the essence of an offence under that section consists of an intent to defraud the Railway Company.