Judgement

Consolidated Appeals (No. 5 of 1948), by special leave, from the judgments of the High Court (February 12, 1947, and March 20, 1947) upholding the conviction and sentence passed by the Chief Presidency Magistrate (June 19, 1946) under s. 161 of the Indian Penal Code in the case of the appellant Zutshi, and upholding the conviction and enhancing the sentence passed by him on the same date under s. 161 read with s. 109 of the Penal Code in the case of the appellant Chimanlal.

The following facts are taken from the judgment of the Judicial Committee. The charge against the first appellant was that he, being a public servant, accepted a sum of Rs..15,000 for forbearing to prosecute a metal merchant named Vakharia and thereby committed an offence punishable under s. 161 of the Indian Penal Code. The second appellant was charged with abetting that offence. An appeal by the first appellant to the High Court at Bombay was dismissed on March 20, 1947. It appeared from the judgment of Stone C.J. that there were two grounds of appeal first, that the whole proceedings were invalid because no sanction had been given under s. 197 of the Criminal Procedure Code, and secondly, an appeal