JUDGMENT

Chatterjee, J. - In this case the petitioner has been convicted u/s 193 of the Indian Penal Code for giving false evidence in the course of a judicial proceeding. The nature of that judicial proceeding was as follows. The Assistant Settlement Officer made an inquiry u/s 476 of the Criminal Procedure Code as to whether he should or should not order the prosecution of certain persons for filing false receipts in the course of a settlement proceeding before him. The petitioner is said to have given false evidence in that inquiry. The petitioner obtained a Rule on the District Magistrate to show cause why the sentence passed upon him should not be set aside on the ground that the proceeding u/s 476 of the Criminal Procedure Code was not a judicial proceeding. "Judicial proceeding" has been defined in Section 4 of the Criminal Procedure Code, and it includes any proceeding in the course of which evidence is or may legally be taken on oath. Now, in order to see in what proceeding evidence can be taken on oath, we must refer to the Oaths' Act. Section 4 of Act X of 1873 lays down that all Courts and persons having by law or consent of parties authority to receive evidence are enti