H.R. Krishnan, J.

This is an application in revision by a person convicted by a 1st Class Magistrate under Sections 3 and 4 of the Madhya Bharat Gambling Act, and sentenced under each of the two sections to suffer simple imprisonment for two months and to pay a fine of Rs. 200 with further imprisonment in default for one month under each count. His appeal has also been dismissed. Among other points, he has urged that the entire proceeding of search under Section 5 of the Act is vitiated by the fact that the search was without jurisdiction, there being no "credible information" before the police officer, that the particular place (the applicant's betel shop) was being used as a common gaming house. Secondly, that certain papers have been read as "betting slips" (Exhs. B, C and D), though they were in code, and the police officer's key to the code was itself based on hearsay information. Thirdly, that a conviction under Section 3 was in any case, uncalled for, because there is no element of repetition, this alleged incident being the only one act of gambling even according to the prosecution. Finally, it is prayed that the sentence of imprisonment is not called for, especially, as the Madhya Bharat Act which provides for a minimum sentence of imprisonment even on the first conviction, was repealed while the case was pending, and was replaced by the Central Provinces Public Gaming Act, which does not provide for a minimum sentence of imprisonment on first conviction, though, otherwise the provisions are quite similar.

The facts of the case are the following. The applicant is the owner of a betel shop in Indore. On 25th November, 1959, the officer-in-charge of the local police station got information that this shop was being used as a gaming house. He made a record of this in his diary, and further sent his assistant Kantilal to verify it. The latter went to the shop, returned, and gave a report, after which the officer, now confirmed in his suspicions, arranged for a trap, of the usual type, with Rehman P. W. 1 as the bogus punter, and two othersBrijmohan and Mohommad Shafias witnesses. The reported form of gambling was what in this part is known as "American futures", and consists of a bet on the chances of a particular digit, that is any of 0 to 9 being the last figure of the quotation of cotton at New York, at the end of the particular day, signaled late in the evening, on the wireless. A refinement is that it is open to the better to play for a multiple of the bet. The manager of the business of gaming receives the bet, notes the better's name, the value of the stake the figure staked upon and the multiple, if any, often, the particulars (all but the better's name) are in code, letters being used for the figures in a particular order.

Rehman was given a marked one-rupee note and according to him, he went and gave the note to Ramnarayanthe applicantand asked him to treat it as a bet on the digit 3 in that day's American Future, Ramnarayan agreed and accepting the amount, made a note on the slip with Rehman's name and certain letters. Therefore, Rehman gave the agreed signal, by lighting a bidi in the usual manner. The police party walked in, recovered the marked note and three slips (marked B, C and D) mentioning names, ostensibly, of the betters and certain letters noted against each of them, whose meaning can be deciphered only if we know the code. One of the slips was

Rehman Tanga

The usual panchanama was prepared which was signed by the applicant also, though he said later on in his defence, that he did so under pressure.

On these materials, the applicant was put up on trial for keeping a gaming house and having the management of the business of such house, and of being present in it and unable to prove that he was not there for the purpose of gaming. His defence was that he did not know anything about the allegation of gaming and that the money and the three slips were not recovered from him, and, in any case, the decoy