T S RAGUPATHI AIYAR Vs. NARAYANA GOUNDAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The respondents in these Criminal Revision Petitions, and in two or three others which have since been withdrawn, were convicted of mischief, under Section 426, Indian Penal Code, by the Sub-Magistrate, Tirupathur, and sentenced to pay fines, but the convictions were reversed by the Joint Magistrate, Tirupathur, on appeal. The petitioner is agent to the Mittadar of Bommai Kuppam, and was complainant in the criminal prosecutions. The case against each respondent was that he unlawfully allowed goats to graze in the Mitta forest, grazing rights being restricted to holders of permits, and in this way committed the offence in question. Arguments for revision have been based upon the terms of the judgments to which Civil Revision Petition No. 996 of 1927 relates.

(2.) In order to establish the offence of mischief, as defined in Section 425, Indian Penal Code, it must be shown that the accused "with intent to cause, or. knowing that he is likely to cause, wrongful loss or damage to the public or to any person, causes the destruction of any property, or any such change in any property or in the situation thereof as destroys or diminishes its value or utility, or affects it injuriously."

(3.) The only passage in the Sub-Magistrate's judgment on the question of wrongful loss or damage is this: In cases of goat browsing in forests, it is an accepted principle that the damage caused is detrimental to tree growth and it is very difficult to arrive at any valuation of the damage caused.