ARCHIBALD GEORGE EDGECOMBE Vs. EMPEROR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present rule has been obtained by A.G. Edgecombe who, at the time of his arrest, was the 5 engineer on S.S. Aronda. He has been convicted under Section 411, I.P.C., by the Chief Presidency Magistrate. The offence is found to have been committed in respect of packets containing 1,865 one rupee notes the subject of a theft which had occurred on S.S. Maihar. The rule was issued upon the ground that the elements necessary to constitute an offence under Section 411 not being present in the case the conviction was bad in law and should be set aside. It would appear that the theft of these, among other notes, was committed some time between 14 April and 29 may last. On 29 June last at 9 p.m. the present petitioner was arrested in Rangoon by an Excise Inspector, and the packets of notes in question were then found upon his person. He is said to have informed the Inspector at the time that these notes were forged or false notes. His explanation now is that he was conveying them from Calcutta to Rangoon at the request of a Chinese ship's carpenter with whom he was acquainted and that he was doing this as a friendly service. The findings of the learned Magistrate bearing on the points presented for consideration are: I am satisfied that the accused was acting dishonestly and that he knew that he was engaged in some shady transaction.

(2.) Later on the Magistrate observes: I think that he took the packets containing the notes, knowing that there was something shady about them, and that it was a transaction to be concealed from the authorities, but that he did not care to enquire what exactly was their nature. He knew generally that there was something wrong with them and may have supposed they might be forged.

(3.) Later on he observes: I do not take his statement, that he had forged notes, to mean anything more than that he knew there was something wrong about them, but exactly what he had not troubled to ascertain.