Accused nos. 1, 3 and 5, who were convicted by the Judicial First Class Magistrate-II, Thamarassery, for offences punishable under sections 27(1)(e)(iii) and (iv) of Kerala Forest Act, are the revision petitioners. The learned Magistrate sentenced them to undergo rigorous imprisonment for two years and to pay a fine of Rs.2,000/-and in default to undergo simple imprisonment for three months each for the offence under section 27(1)(e)(iii). They were further sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for two years and to pay Rs.2,000/-each as fine for the offence under section 27(1)(e)(iv) of Kerala Forest Act. The conviction was confirmed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, but the substantive sentence was reduced to rigorous imprisonment for one year.

2. The revision petitioners contend that the Courts below failed to note that the prosecution has failed to prove that any tree was cut or removed from any reserved forest or vested forest, since no notification was produced by the prosecution to prove those aspects. The courts below also failed to note that there is no legal evidence to hold that the revision petitioners were the persons engaged in the removal of the