JUDGMENT :

Thisis a petition, under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (for brevity'the Code'), for quashing of the criminal proceedings pending as Complaint CaseNo. 4837/2006, before Shri B.R. Yadav,JMFC, Sagar.

2.The petitioner stands prosecuted as the person nominated by the manufacturingcompany under Section 17 (1) (a) (i) of thePrevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954 (hereinafter referred to as 'theAct') for the offence punishable under Section 7 (ii) read with Section 16 (1)(a) (i) of the Act. Cognizance of the offence hasbeen taken upon complaint made by Shivraj Pawak, Food Inspector, Food and DurgAdministration, Distt. Sagaragainst the petitioner, Vinod Kumar and Prafulla Patel (arraigned as accused No. 2, 1 and 3respectively).

3.Relevant contents of the complaint, filed on 25-9-2006, may be summarised as under :-

"(i) On 8-6-2001 at about 2.30 p.m., R.K. Jain, the FoodInspector, inspected the shop run by Vinod Kumarunder the name and style of 'Natraj Sweets' situatedin Civil Line at Sagar. By paying an amount of Rs. 30/-, the Inspector purchased 3 bottles containingwater, each carrying label specifying these particulars :-

"Kinley Pure Drinking Water, packaged drinking water bottledby Hindustan Coca-cola Beverages Pvt. Ltd., Regd. Office at linkay Towers,Udyog Vihar, Phase 5, Gurgaon, Ilaryana under theauthority of Coca-cola Company Net quantity 1 litre.Batch No. 012, Mfd. date 18-4-2011 MRP? 10.34 best before 6 months fromPacking Unit at Nadiad, Gujarat."

(ii)One of the bottles, thus purchased, was forwarded for analysis to the PublicAnalyst, State Food Laboratory, Bhopal.The corresponding report dated 10-7-2001indicated that the product was misbranded in vie