ORDER H.C.P. Tripathi, J. - Applicants were convicted by a Magistrate First Class, Varanasi, for an offence u/s 7 read with Section 16(1)(a)(ii) of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act and sentenced to six months' rigorous imprisonment and to a fine of Rs. 1000/- each. In default of payment of fine they were directed to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a further period of six months. 2. On appeal the learned Sessions Judge upheld the conviction and sentences of the Applicants. Hence this revision. 3. According to the prosecution Food Inspector Shyam Sunder inspected on 7-12-1965 at about 10 a.m. the shop of the Applicants in Mohalla Kazipur Kalan in the city of Varanasi and found Applicant Kewal Ram selling Namkin exposed to dust and flies in contravention of Rule 49(3) of the rules framed under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act. Applicant Jhaman Das is the proprietor of that shop. Accordingly a com plaint was filed against them and they were convicted and sentenced as stated above. 4. Learned Counsel for the Applicants has argued on the question of sentence only. It is urged that the Applicants are petty shopkeepers who earn their livelihood by selling saltish material. It was the month of December and even if the edibles were not kept in a glass case it may be a technical breach of the rule but its sale was not likely to lead to the prevalence of any infectious disease. There is some force in his contentions. 5. It is true that the intention of the Legislature in amending Section 16 and providing a minimum sentence of six months imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 1000/- was to check the widely rampant evil of food adulteration. But it is also true that when petty shopkeepers having a capital of a few hundred rupees or milk sellers coming from villages carrying a few seers of milk in their cans for being sold in the nearby cities are prosecuted and awarded such sentences, it results not only in breaking their economic backbone but also in making them destitutes and parasites of the society. It is also true that big sharks like factories, aristocratic hotels, cooperative stores, whole sellers etc., whose anti social activities have a wide ramification in polluting the edibles are seldom put on trial. Even when they are prosecuted it is only their underlings who are sent to the court. It is also true that big sharks like factories, aristocratic hotels, cooperative stores, whole sellers etc., whose anti social activities have a wide ramification in polluting the edibles are seldom put on trial. Even when they are prosecuted it is only their underlings who are sent to the court. The intention of the Legislature, in my opinion, in providing such a deterrent sentence was to bring such anti social elements to book and not to jeopardise the living of the ordinary shopkeepers and milk sellers. 6. There is an affidavit on the record which shows that Applicant No. 1 Jhaman Das is a refugee from Pakistan. His family consists of himself arxj his wife with no children. Applicant No. 2 Kewal Ram is a relation of Jhaman Das. He is engaged by him as a part time servant to look after the shop. The shop is held in a Gumti obtained on rent from the Municipal Board where the Applicants sell Namkin to earn their livelihood. It is, therefore, obvious that if they are sentenced to six months' rigorous imprisonment and to a fine of Rs. 1000/- each, as has been imposed on them by the courts below it will break their economic backbone and render them destitutes. In these circumstances I am satisfied that there are adequate and special reasons for reducing the sentence. 7. Jhaman Das was not present at the shop when it was inspected by the Food Inspector. He is an old man and has already spent 22 days in jail. It is not expedient, therefore, in the interest of justice to send him to jail again. The period of imprisonment in his case is reduced to the period already under gone by him and the fine is reduced to Rs. 250/- only. As regards Kewal Ram, his sentence is reduced to two months' rigorous imprisonment and to a fine of Rs. 250/- only. Jhaman Das is on bail. His bail bonds are discharged. He need not surrender. The bail bonds of Applicant Kewal Ram are cancelled. He should surrender himself forthwith to serve out the sentence imposed on him by this Court. Applicants will deposit the fine within one month of the receipt of this order by the Magistrate, In default of payment of fine they will undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of two months.