ASHITA RANJAN BOSE Vs. EMPEROR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Rule has been issued to show cause why the conviction of the petitioner and the sentence passed on him should not be set aside on ground 2 mentioned in the petition. The petitioner has been convicted under Section 161 read with Section 213, Act 6, 1901 (Assam Labour and Emigration Act) and has been sentenced to pay a fine of Rs. 200. The order of conviction and sentence was passed, in the first instance, by a Magistrate at Dibrugarh, and the same has been confirmed on appeal by the Sessions Judge of the Assam Valley Districts. Ground 2 of the petition upon which this Bale has been issued runs in these words: For that the assumption of the learned Sessions Judge that a recruiting Sardar must accompany every batch of coolies and the imputation of the petitioner's guilty knowledge therefrom are wrong.

(2.) There was a considerable amount of confusion in the, proceedings that took place in the Courts below in connexion with this case and a perusal of the record discloses certain facts which I shall presently narrate and which will speak for themselves.

(3.) The petitioner was an agent of Messrs. Midland Bose and Co. at a place called Amingaon. Messrs. Midland Bose and Co. are the forwarding agents of tea labourers recruited in different parts of India. Certain coolies were recruited for the Madhuting Tea Estate by one B.K. Banerji who, however, did not have a license for recruitment of coolies. The said coolies were dispatched by Messrs Midland Bose and Co. to Amingaon and the petitioner received those coolies and sent them to the Madhuting Tea Estate, These shortly are the facts of the case upon which the petitioner was tried. The Manager of the Madhuting Tea Estate was at first put upon his trial when it was discovered that the said B.K. Banerji had no license to recruit coolies and he was convicted. Thereafter it appears that a complaint was lodged in the Court of the Magistrate at Dibrugarh by somebody whose initials cannot be deciphered in these words: To the Magistrate, Dibrugarh, Sir. I have the honour to apply for summons against the following accused under Secs.164/213, Act 6, 1901. The history of the case is herewith put up.