For hunting and killing a wild animal (a bison) in a forest area, the respondents were convicted by the trial Magistrate, but were acquitted by the Sessions Court in appeal. The Forest Range Officer, who instituted the prosecution, has presented this appeal with special leave against the said acquittal. Hunting of wild animals is prohibited under S. 9 of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972 (for short 'the Act'). The trial Magistrate who convicted the two respondents under S. 5.1 of the Act sentenced them to rigorous imprisonment for six months and a fine of Rs. 500/- each being the minimum sentence prescribed under the Act. The Sessions Judge who set aside the conviction and sentence was disinclined to rely on the evidence of the prosecution and hence the acquittal.

2. The facts revealed in the prosecution evidence, in short, are these : The three accused in the trial Court are brothers. They engage themselves in poaching as a past-time and also for profit-making. They have a gun and other accessories necessary for poaching. During the middle of February, 1985 they went into the vested (reserved ?) forest at Munderi (in Nilambur range) and sighted a bison and shot it do