SHEIKH AMJAD Vs. EMPEROR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioners, three Mahomedans, have been convicted under Secs.298 and 290, Indian Penal Code. Under the former section they have been sentenced each to undergo nine months rigorous imprisonment. No separate sentence has been imposed under Section 290. An appeal against their convictions and sentences has been dismissed by the learned Sessions Judge of Bhagalpur.

(2.) The charge under Section 290 ran as follows: "That you on or about 11th January 1941, at Nayachak, P.S. Mufassil Kotwali, District Bhagalpur, committed a public nuisance, viz., slaughtering a cow and exposing its carcass in a locality where such is not permitted, to the annoyance of the Hindu public and danger to the locality and the passers by." The charge under Section 298 was: "That you on or about the same day and at the same place uttered the words see, what have you done? You tried to prevent us from slaughtering the cow, but we have done it now in the hearing of the complainant Baiju Gope and prosecution witnesses Babulal, Chhedi Tanti and Jageshwar Tanti and made gestures to wit--skinning and cutting the limbs of the carcass to pieces and placing it in the sight of the said persons with the deliberate intention of wounding the religious feelings of the Hindus in general and the aforesaid persons in particular."

(3.) The first day of the Bakrid in 1941 fell on 9 January. The previous day, the village chaukidar had lodged information at the police station to say that the Mahomedans of Nayachak contemplated cow sacrifice during the Bakrid, and the atmosphere was tense. As a result the police and the Sub-Divisional Officer visited the locality, and a compromise was arrived at whereby there was to be no qurbani at Nayachak.