Judgment

BEG, J :- This is an appeal, by special leave, against the acquittal of the appellant, from a charge framed on 21-9-1967 as follows :

"That you on or about the 31st day of March 1967 at about 9.30 p.m. were found in State Transport Corporation Workshop at Naroda in Ahmedabad, and you are a foreigner and you had come from Pakistan and you had been permitted to stay in India till 20th September, 1958, by Assistant Secretary to the Government of Bombay and did not depart from India before expiring of that permit issued to you by No. 19904 dated 6-12-1957 before the date 20th December 1958 and remained in India and thereby you contravened the provisions of cl. 7 (iii) of Foreigners Order 1958 and thereby committed an offence punishable under Section 14 of Foreigners Act 1946 and within my cognizance".

The above mentioned charge was supported by the statement of Mahamadmiya, P. W. 2. Sub Inspector, Special Emergency Branch, Ahmedabad, showing that the appellant was working in Baroda Central State Transport Workshop when he was arrested as a consequence of the information that he was a Pakistani national who had come to India in 1955 on a Pakistani passport. The accused had prod