HARRY JONES Vs. EMPEROR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant before us was convicted by the Officiating Second Presidency Magistrate of Calcutta, on the 12 June, 1923, of an offence under Section 409, I.P.C., that is to say of criminal breach of trust as an Attorney in respect of certain books and furniture left with him as the complainant's Attorney for safe custody when the complainant left for England in the month of May, 1904. The appellant was sentenced to imprisonment until the rising of the Court and to pay a fine of Rs. 500.

(2.) The books and furniture to which the charge relates were seized in the top flat at 9-3 Middleton Row on the 19 November, 1922, in pursuance of a search directed by the Magistrate and the books and the books and furniture so be returned to the complainant. The Magistrate?s judgment and the charge contain references to other furniture also handed over in May 1904, by the complainant to the appellant; this furniture and the books and furniturs comprised in the charge are said to have been in the complainant's house No. 85, Upper Circular Road at the time the complainant left for England and some of the furniture other than that comprised in the charge, is said to have been sold by the complainant, but nothing turns on this, as there is no charge in respect of this and matters with regard thereto may have been adjusted between the complainant and the appellant as there were other monetary transactions between them. "We are only concerned with the specific books and articles seized at 9/3, Middleton Bow, referred to in the charge which are set out in Exhibits 4 and 5, which were lists attached to the complaint which bears date the 17 November, 1922. The case has unfortunately been encumbered with evidence and references with regard to monetary dealings between the complainant and the appellant extending from 1904 to 1922; we have nothing to do with these matters as they are not included in. the charge and we do not propose to go into them.

(3.) The charge is somewhat curiously framed. As already stated the petition of complaint bears date the 17 November, 1922, by which date the offence complained of must have been complete, yet the charge of criminal breach of trust is placed between the 9th September and the 30 November, 1922, that is to say during a period which ends 13 days after the complaint was laid.