EMPEROR Vs. DHONDYA DUDHYA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is a report by the District Magistrate of Belgaum under Section 438 of the Criminal. Procedure Code of the case of the accused Dhondya bin Dudhya a boy aged nine years who has been convicted by the Cantonment Magistrate of Belgaum after a summary trial of an offence under Section 130 of the Indian Railways Act of 1890.

(2.) The District Magistrate considers that, as the act which the boy committed, viz., putting a nail on a railway line, amounted to an offence under Section 126(a) of the Indian Railways Act, the case was triable only by a Court of Session.

(3.) We think it clear that Section 130 enacts an offence distinct from the offences in Sections 126 to 129. A minor who is entitled to the benefit of Section 82 or Section 83 of the Indian Penal Code does not commit an offence when he is guilty of any of the acts or omissions referred to in Sections 126 to 129. It is Section 130 which by excluding the operation of these exceptions creates the offence.