1980 (12) TMI 205

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.... JUDGMENT A.D. KOSHAL, J. 1. This is an appeal by special leave against an order dated the 6th November, 1979 of a learned Single Judge of the Patna High Court quashing the entire proceedings in a criminal case against the 7 respondents who were facing a charge under Section 7 of the Essential Commodities Act in the Court of a Magistrate at Bhagalpur. 2. The case was initiated through a report ....

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....were accepted through the impugned order. The High Court held for various reasons that the police report did not disclose any offence against any of the respondents. Another reason for accepting the two applications may be stated in the words of the learned Single Judge: Another important aspect of the matter is that the prosecution commenced in the year 1963 and it is still going on in 1979. It....

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....to the prosecution. If they did not know the address of their own witnesses and if the prosecution was not in a position to conclude its evidence by now it will be an abuse of the process of the court to allow the prosecution go on any further. 3. Learned counsel for the appellant State has challenged the impugned order not only on the ground that its finding about the police report not disclosin....