1957 (7) TMI 1

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....d Almeida was following him at a short distance. Almeida it is said was carrying a suitcase. Three Customs Sepoys who were on duty at the Garden Reach Coal Jetty where the ship was berthed asked Almeida about the contents of the suitcase. He gave no reply but Hottinger said that the suitcase contained two bottles of wine. The Sepoys took the suitcase into custody, and, after search witness had been secured, it was opened, and on search it was found to contain among other things one bottle George IV Whisky, one bottle of Tolley's brandy and six packets of stones which, it is said, are synthetic stones. The prosecution case is that the import of synthetic stones or the wine and the whisky into India can only be made under a licence granted by....

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....ad been committed is based, the judgment cannot be considered a proper judgement at all, and it becomes impossible for the Court of appeal to know what exactly was the basis of the Magistrate's decision. 5.The argument before this court proceeded on the basis that the learned Magistrate did believe the prosecution case as sought to be proved by the witnesses. It was contended, however, on behalf of the appellants that he was wrong in accepting the prosecution witnesses who spoke about the statement made by Hottinger or about Almeida as witness of truth. 6.One curious circumstance to which Mr. Dutt who appears on behalf of Almeida and Mr. Sen who appears on behalf of Hottinger have drawn our attention is that while according to the thr....

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.... 7.The three sepoys concur in saying that Almeida being asked about the contents of the suitcase kept quiet, but Hottinger at once made a statement, though he had not been asked by anybody, that the suitcase contained two bottles of wine. It has been pointed out to us that of these witnesses, Bijli Singh, P. W. 3 and Kd. Iqbul P W 4 had, previous to this, been arrested on a charge of accepting bribe. That, however, is not a sufficient reason for disbelieving their testimony as given in this case. On a consideration of the evidence as a whole I am of the opinion that the learned Magistrate was right in believing their evidence on this point. 8.It necessarily follows that Hottinger, at least, knew about the two bottles inside that suitcase....