This is a petition to revise the judgment of the Sessions Judge, Mathurai, dated 8th April, 1950, in C.A. No. 37 of 1950, confirming the conviction of the petitioner, Vadivel Goundar, a man of Travancore, under section 4(1)(a) of the Madras Prohibition Act, but setting aside the sentence of simple imprisonment for one month and the order of confiscation of his motor van in which he was carrying the bag containing the two bottles of brandy.

The facts are briefly these. The petitioner, Vadivel Goundar, is a man of Kottayam, in Travancore-Cochin State, and owns some estates there. He was caught hold of on Gudalur-Cumbum road at 9 p.m. on 28th November, 1949, in Indian Union territory, by the Prohibition Inspector of Police, P.W. 1, and his staff, and two bottles of brandy were recovered from a bag kept on the rear seat near him by the petitioner who gave a statement to the Prohibition Inspector stating that he was taking those brandy bottles for being given as medicine to his wife during her expected confinement. The question, however, is whether that statement is admissible under sections 25 and 26 of the Indian Evidence Act. Both the lower Courts held that it was admissible an