Judgement

PALEKAR, J.:- This is an appeal by special leave. The appellants who were accused Nos. 1 and 3 respectively were acquitted by the learned Munsif Magistrate 1st Class, Aurangabad on March 19, 1966. The case against them had been started on a compliant filed by the respondent for an offence under S. 420 of the Indian Penal Code. Aggrieved by the acquittal, the respondent filed an appeal under S. 417 (3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure and the same was registered as Criminal Appeal No. 52 of 1966 in the Patna High Court. The order-sheet shows that notice was issued to the appellants on July 5, 1966. In pursuance of the notice, the appellants appeared in the case on July 28, 1966 through Shri Kedar Nath Verma, Advocate. By some mistake, neither the name of the appellants nor of their advocate Shri Kedar Nath Verma appeared in the cause list, and the case was heard in their absence on December 16 and 17, 1968. The appeal was allowed and the appellants were convicted of the offence under Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for two months and to pay a fine of Rupees 500/- each. The appellants came to know of this order subsequentl