Judgement

Appeal (No. 82 of 1946) by special leave, from a judgment of the High Court (January 29, 1946) which had allowed an appeal by the Superintendent and Remembrancer of Legal Affairs, Bengal, from the acquittal of the appellant by the Police Magistrate of Sealdah (June 22, 1945) on a charge of accepting a bribe brought under s. 161 of the Indian Penal Code. The High Court set aside the order of acquittal, convicted the appellant and sentenced him to one years rigorous imprisonment.

The following facts are taken from the judgment of the Judicial Committee. The main ground of appeal was that there had been contraventions of s. 162 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, that the High Courts judgment relied on the testimony of a witness, Mr. Roy, who had given a signed statement to the police in breach of the section and had, also in breach of the section, had it before him and made substantial use of it while he was giving evidence. It was also made a ground of appeal that the police officers engaged on the investigation had failed to keep a diary in contravention of s, 172, sub-s. 1.

The appellant was employed from June till August 24, 1944, by the East Indian Railway as a grain de