Kuppuswami Ayyar, J.

1. The main point urged before me in this petition is that even if the accusation is false the petitioner cannot be convicted for an offence punishable under Section 211, Penal Code, as all that he had done in this case was to send a report to his official superior in the discharge of his duties and that he had not sent it with intent to set the criminal law in motion. The petitioner was a gangman employed in the South Indian Railway Company. On the date of occurrence when he was returning from Mettur he noticed a person removing two keys on the railway line. He caught hold of him but he ran away. He picked the two keys and handed it over to the station master of Ambathuraiand gave a report, Ex. G. That it was done only for the purpose of giving information as regards the state of the railway line is clear from the last sentence in that report which is as follows : "There is no obstruction whatever in the way of the train running along the lines." It is the duty of the gangman to watch the line and report to the authorities about its condition, so that they may take steps to prevent trains running on the line, if there be any defect. That is why he had sent