1973 (8) TMI 131

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....urns, the prosecution in the other two cases, which related to two different years, was under section 46(1)(c) of the Act for failure to keep true and complete accounts and section 46(2)(c) of the Act for fraudulent evasion of payment of tax. In respect of the charge under section 46(2)(c) of the Act, the District Magistrate acquitted the accused. But they were convicted in C.C. No. 90 of 1970 under section 46(1)(a) of the Act and each of them was sentenced to pay a fine of Rs. 600 and in default to undergo imprisonment for eight days and in C.C. Nos. 91 and 92 of 1970 under section 46(1)(c) of the Act and each of them was sentenced in each of those cases to pay a fine of Rs. 500 and in default to undergo imprisonment for one week. In the a....

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....ers which were already in that room and which the lower courts have chosen to call as "secret books and papers". On examining them, the officers found that the entries in them were different from those in the account books which had been submitted to them by the accused. Those secret account books and papers were then taken into custody. It was thereafter that prosecution was launched. 3.. The prosecution case is that the entries in the secret books differ widely from those in the account books produced before the officers and that, consequently, the entries in the account books produced before the officers were false and the returns that the accused filed previously before the officers in respect of their sales and turnovers were also f....

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....in respect of the same business, the burden is on the assessee to show that the account showing the larger turnover and profits is not the correct one and in the absence of proper explanation on the part of the assessee, it may be open to the officer to ignore both sets of accounts if he has reason to doubt that both of them are false. But, they are all for purposes of assessment only. They cannot be extended to criminal trials where different considerations prevail. The right of an accused to remain silent if he so wishes during trial is well-recognised. His silence cannot be allowed to any degree to become a substitute for proof by prosecution of its case. The presumption of innocence in his favour entitles him to the benefit of every rea....