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1989 DIGILAW 402 (RAJ)

State of Rajasthan v. Mota son of Suva

1989-05-24

N.C.SHARMA

body1989
JUDGMENT 1. - Mota respondent was convicted by the Judicial Magistrate, Nasirabad by his judgment dated April 28, 1981 under section 4(2) of the Rajasthan Prohibition Act, 1967 and he was sentenced to the imprisonment already undergone and with a fine of Rs. 15/-. This conviction was for possession by the respondent of one bottle of liquor. The State has come in appeal for enhancement of the sentence. 2. It was urged by the learned Public Prosecutor that proviso to section 4(2) of the Rajasthan Prohibition Act, 1967 provides for imposing minimum sentence. Suffice it to say that substantive section 4(2) provides that an offence committed under the said Act shall be punishable with imprisonment of either description which may extend to two years or fine. It may be noted that there had been a mistake in the authorised English translation of the Rajasthan Prohibition Act, 1967, which was enacted by the Legislature in Hindi. The mistake came to the notice of the Government of Rajasthan and it issued a corrigendum dated October 30, 1972, which was published in the Rajasthan Gazette, Part IV (gal dated December 7, 1972 and it was clarified therein that in the Act published in the Rajasthan Gazette Part IV (a) (Extraordinary) dated September 19, 1979 at pp. 119, in sub-sec. (2) of section 4 at p. 124 for the word `and' read `or'. It is, thus, clear that when the offence was committed in the Instant case, it was punishable with imprisonment of either description which may extend to two years or with fine and not punishable with imprisonment and fine. Reference, in this connection, may also be made to the decision in State of Rajasthan v. Nemi Chand (1981 RCC 2). 3. Since the respondent possessed only one bottle of liquor, no enhancement in the sentence is called for. The State appeal is dismissed.Appeal dismissed. *******