- (1.)BANU Ram, a shopkeeper of Karnal, and his employee Dina Nath were prosecuted under Sections 3/4 of the Public Gambling Act but they were acquitted by the Court of a Second Class Magistrate and the State has filed an appeal against their acquittal.
(2.)THE facts are quite simple. On the 28th of May, 1959, Sub-Inspector Mit Singh of the City Police Station, Kama), obtained a warrant-under Section 5 of the Act from Mr. M. R. Vaid P. W. 6, Additional District Magistrate, for the search of the shop of Banu Ram on the ground that reliable information had been received that Banu Ram was using his premises for the purpose of satta gambling. In pursuance of this warrant on the following day, the 29th May, S. I. Mit Singh raided the shop in the company of Sunder Lal and Purdaman Singh P. Ws. On the arrival of the Sub-Inspector the accused hastily collected some papers and put them in an iron cash box but the Sub-Inspector, took possession of these documents and other articles including over Rs. 700/- in cash.
(3.)ALTHOUGH the accused denied their guilt and denied that the documents recovered had any connection with satta gambling and three witnesses were produced in defence to state that to their knowledge satta gambling was not carried on at the shop of Banu Ram, there seems to be no doubt that in fact most of the documents seized by the Sub-Inspector are satta gambling slips or documents connected with satta gambling. The learned Magistrate, however, acquitted the accused because he found that there was nothing in the prosecution evidence to show than the accused were making any profit out of gambling or that the premises were being used for gambling for profitable purposes.