EMPEROR Vs. RAGHUNATH LAHANUSA WALVEKAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) His Lordship went into the facts of the case, and came to the conclusion that the Magistrate was justified in convicting the accused. The judgment then proceeded to sea with the points of law raised in the case. Mr. Velinker then takes certain points of law. He says, in the first place, that the two panchas who took part in the raid were not local people, and, therefore, Section 103 of the Criminal Procedure Code was not complied with. The first answer to that is that Section 103 in terms only applies to searches to be made under the Code, and there is nothing in the Bombay Prevention of Gambling Act which requires search made under Section 6 to be in conformity with the provisions of Section 103. No doubt the police often do, and very wisely, carry out a search under the Prevention of Gambling Act in accordance with the provisions of Section 103, but in my view it is not essential to do so, Even if I thought that it was essential, I should say that the fact that the panchas were not local people is an irregularity which could be cared under Section 537 of the Code. The Sub-Inspector who made the raid says that the panchas were not known to him. He apparently collected the first two people he could find who happened to be at the police-station, but there was no evidence that they were not perfectly independent persons.

(2.) Then the next point of law which is a rather more serious one is that the arrest of the accused was illegal. Under the search warrant it is open for the police to arrest anybody found at the common gaming house, and as accused No. 2 was there on the occasion of the raid on October 3, undoubtedly he could have been arrested. But in fact he was not arrested on that occasion; he was arrested on October 19. Accused No. 1 was also arrested on October 19, and accused No. 3 was arrested on November 20. Mr. Velinker says that this was a non-cognizable offence, and therefore the accused could not be arrested without warrant. "Cognizable" is defined in Section 4 (f) of the Criminal Procedure Code to mean a case in which a police-officer may, in accordance with the second schedule or under any law for the time being in force, arrest without warrant. Under the last words of the second schedule this is not a case in which the police could arrest without a warrant, and so far as the law for the time being in force is concerned, the only special law dealing with the case, viz., the Prevention of Gambling Act, requires a warrant to be issued under Section 6. I think, therefore, that under the Code it is clear that this was not a cognizable offence, but Mr. Velinker has referred us, and quite rightly, to a case which appears to be against him on that point: Emperor V/s. Ismail . The headnote in that case is:- Held (1) that the offence punishable under Section 4 of the Bombay Prevention of Gambling Act 1887 as modified up to date was a cognizable offence in all cases, and that the Commissioner of Police could therefore arrest without a warrant." In my view that statement in the head-note is not justified by the actual decision. It is quite true that the first question submitted to the High Court by the Magistrate was whether offences punishable tinder Section 4 of the Bombay Prevention of Gambling Act (Bom. IV of 1887) as modified up to date are cognizable offences in all cases ? Mr. Justice Patkar who gave the first judgment does not appear in terms to have answered that question, but his reasoning suggests what he thinks the answer should be, The case was a peculiar one on the facts, because the Commissioner of Police was himself present on the occasion of the raid. What Mr. Justice Patkar held was that, inasmuch as the Commissioner of Police was in a position to issue a warrant under Section 6 of the Act authorising a police officer to make the raid and arrest, he could himself do what he was capable of authorising somebody else to do, and it is clear that that reasoning would only apply to a case in which the Commissioner himself was present, Mr. Justice Wild, the other Judge, does answer the question, but he answers in these terms (p. 363): " The Commissioner of Police of Bombay was in the circumstances of this case authorised to arrest the accused". But the case in not an authority for saying that offences punishable under Section 4 of the Bombay Prevention of Gambling Act, 1887, are cognizable offences. I think, therefore, that in this case the arrest of the accused, certainly of accused Nos. 1 and 3, was not justified, I doubt; whether the arrest of accused No. 2 was justified so long after the raid as his arrest took place.

(3.) But then the learned Government Pleader says that even if that is so, the charge sheet sent up in this case can be treated as a complaint and the Magistrate can therefore take cognizance, and for that he relies on the case of Emperor V/s. Shivaswami . I think the case is an authority for that proposition, and I think in this case the Magistrate could take cognizance of the matter, Mr. Velinker has further argued that the charge-sheet was in any case pot a sufficiently specific statement of facts to come within Section 19(1)(a) of the Criminal Procedure Code. The charge-sheet contains a certain number of fuels, though, I agree, that it does not contain a very complete statement of facts, but even if the charge-sheet was not sufficiently specific as to facts, I think that the defect is cured under Section 529 of the Code which provides that if any Magistrate not empowered by law to do any of the following things, namely, (e) to take cognizance of an offence under Section 190, Sub-section (1), Clause (a) or Clause (6), erroneously in good faith does that thing, his proceedings shall not be set aside merely on the ground of his not being so empowered.