S.S. Sandhawalia, C.J. :- Does S.104 of the Customs Act, 1962 read with Ss.4(2), 436 and 437 of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, empower a Magistrate to remand to custody a person suspected of the commission of any non-bailable offence under the aforesaid Act - is the question in this criminal miscellaneous case admitted to hearing by the Division Bench in view of the significance of the issue involved.

2. The facts are not in dispute and lie in a narrow compass. On 24th of Nov. 1985 the two petitioners were arrested by a Customs Officer for allegedly having in their possession foreign goods, namely, Chinese primary gold weighing 1122 grams valued at Rs. 2,42,352, which had apparently been smuggled into India from Nepal. The prosecution under S.135 of Customs Act (hereinafter to be referred to as the 'Act') having thus been initiated, the two petitioners were thereafter produced in person before the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Patna. By his order (annexure 2) the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate noticed that the petitioners had been produced in connection with the case under S.135 of the Act and S.8 of the Gold Control Act read with S.13 of the Foreign Exchang