JUDGMENT : Ajay Mohan Goel, J. This revision petition has been filed against judgment dated 14.1.2008 passed by the Court of learned Addl. Sessions Judge, Fast Track, Kangra at Dharamshala in Cr. Appeal No. 15- D/X/2007 affirming the judgment passed by the Court of learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Kangra at Dharamshala in Criminal Case No. 297-III/05 dated 09.07.2007, vide which the present petitioner has been convicted for offence under Section 61(1)(a) of the Punjab Excise Act, 1914, as applicable to the State of Himachal Pradesh. 2. In brief, the case of the prosecution was that on 3.7.2005 police personnel headed by SI Surinder Thakur were at village Nagroti, District Kangra on a routine patrol. On the said date, at around 7:30 p.m., Head Constable Kuldeep Chand received information on his mobile from MHC, Dharamshala that a Van bearing registration No. HP-02-5259 was coming towards Yol side after committing an accident and that the same should be stopped. Accordingly, some police officials were deputed to Narwana Chowk to lay a seize, and Sub Inspector also reached there. 3. At about 9:15 p.m., a Mahindra Jeep bearing registration No. HP-37-4495 came from Dharamshala side, which was stopped by the police. He was found transporting 40 boxes, each box containing 12 bottles of country liquor ‘Lal Killa’ brand without any licence. Thereafter, the identity of the accused was obtained. From five boxes, one bottle each was taken and from said five bottles, one nip each was taken out as sample for the purpose of analysis. Thereafter, these five bottles and five nips were sealed with seal impression ‘A’. Sample impression of the seal was also taken separately and bottles recovered along with liquor were taken into possession. 4. At the time of search, Desh Raj and Sunil Kumar had also been joined as independent witnesses and thereafter the seal was handed over to independent witness Desh Raj. FIR was registered and the vehicle was impounded. After the receipt of the report of the samples, it was found that the same contained country liquor with 50% strength and as the liquor was being transported without any licence, the same was found offending provisions of Punjab Excise Act, as applicable to the State of H.P. Challan was accordingly prepared and presented in the Court. The accused pleaded not guilty and accordingly was tried for the offences charged against him. 5. The accused pleaded not guilty and accordingly was tried for the offences charged against him. 5. In order to prove its case, the prosecution examined 9 witnesses. PW1-Desh Raj was associated as independent witness of the locality at the time of search and recovery of the country liquor. However, said witness did not support the case of the prosecution and was declared hostile. The other independent witness Sushil Kumar was given up by the prosecution as having been won over by the accused. PW2- Madan Lal had stated that on 30.7.2005 he was posted in Police Post, Yol. He along with SI Surinder Thakur, Constable Sardari Lal, Constable Anoop Kumar and others was present for the Nakabandi at Narwana Chowk and at around 9:15 p.m., one jeep bearing registration No. HP-37-4495 came from Yol side which was stopped and searched. Inside the jeep under the tarpaulin (Tarpal) 40 boxes of country liquor ‘Lal Kila’ brand were recovered. There were 12 plastic bottles in each box and accused was in the jeep who on inquiry revealed his name as Parbinder Singh son of Sh. Onkar Singh. When the accused was called upon to show the transit permit, he failed to do so. At the spot one bottle each was taken out from five boxes of the country liquor and from said bottles, one nip each was taken as sample for chemical test and the said 5 bottles and the nips were sealed with mark ‘A’. The same were taken into possession vide memo Ext. PW3/A and the seal was taken on a separate clothe and after use it was handed over to Sh. Desh Raj. Thereafter, he along with Desh Raj and Sunil appended their signatures. He further stated that he has seen the seized boxes of liquor in the Court. 6. PW3-Vishal Dogra has deposed that he has taken the photographs Ext. PW3/A to Ext. PW3/D. In his cross-examination he has deposed that when he reached the spot at that time the vehicle was empty and the police personnel loaded the boxes of liquor in front of him into the vehicle and thereafter he took the photographs. 7. 6. PW3-Vishal Dogra has deposed that he has taken the photographs Ext. PW3/A to Ext. PW3/D. In his cross-examination he has deposed that when he reached the spot at that time the vehicle was empty and the police personnel loaded the boxes of liquor in front of him into the vehicle and thereafter he took the photographs. 7. HC Sushil Kumar PW5 has deposed that he was posted as MHC in Police Station, Dharamshala at the relevant time and the case property as well as the sample seals were deposited with him, which was thereafter sent to CTL, Kandaghat and he has stated that till the case property was in his possession, there was no tampering with the same. 8. PW7 Ashok Kumar was posted as HHC in Police Post, Yol. He has also corroborated the story of the prosecution that on 3.7.2005 they had put a Naka at Narwana Chowk and at around 9:30 p.m., Mahindra Jeep bearing registration No. HP-02-5259 came from Dharamshala side which was stopped for checking and during the course of search, 40 boxes of country liquor were recovered from the same of ‘Lal Kila’ brand which were accordingly taken into possession. The accused was called upon to show the permit but he failed to do so. He has further stated that from 5 boxes, 5 bottles of country liquor were taken and from each of these 5 bottles, one nip was separately taken out and sent for chemical test. In his cross-examination he has stated that the prosecution has not shown him the case property in the Court on the day of his deposition. 9. PW8 SI Surinder Thakur was posted as In-charge Police Post, Yol on the date of the incident and he has also deposed about setting up of the Naka and the vehicle in issue being stopped while in its way from Dharamshala and thereafter recovery of 40 boxes country liquor being carried without any permit. He has also deposed that from 5 boxes, one bottle was taken out and from said bottle, one nip of country liquor was separated for the purpose of sample and the procedure adopted for sealing and sampling of the case property. 10. The learned trial Court on the basis of the evidence produced before it by the prosecution convicted the accused under Section 61(1)(a) of the Punjab Excise Act. 10. The learned trial Court on the basis of the evidence produced before it by the prosecution convicted the accused under Section 61(1)(a) of the Punjab Excise Act. It came to the conclusion that the accused in his statement made under Section 313 Cr.P.C. had admitted that he was apprehended by the police alongwith his vehicle, though he refuted that 480 bottles of country liquor were recovered from him. Thus, according to the learned trial Court the factum of the vehicle having been apprehended and searched by the police and the vehicle in issue being driven by the accused was not in dispute. As per the prosecution, 40 boxes containing 480 bottles of country liquor were being transported by the accused without any licence. The learned trial Court came to the conclusion that PW2, HC Madan, PW7, constable Ashok Kumar and PW8, SI Surinder Thakur, had corroborated that the vehicle of the accused was stopped and on search, 40 boxes of country liquor in which 480 bottles of same were there were recovered from the vehicle being driven by the accused for the transportation of which, the accused was not having any licence. The plea of enmity put forth by the accused has been turned down by the trial Court by holding that the accused had not been able to substantiate this allegation of his. The contention of the accused that he was being framed at the behest of Surinder Rana contractor of a liquor vend was turned down by the learned trial Court by holding that neither the accused had been able to prove the same nor police personnel/contractor will be spending thirty to forty thousand rupees, i.e. the value of the country liquor seized, just to plant the same against the accused. The learned trial Court relied upon the judgment reported in 1978 PLR, 341, in which it was held that when a huge quantity is recovered, evidence of official witnesses is to be relied upon, especially when there is no earlier enmity between the accused persons and the official witnesses. It is significant to note here that the accused has not been able to prove that there was enmity between him and the official witnesses. 11. It is significant to note here that the accused has not been able to prove that there was enmity between him and the official witnesses. 11. The learned trial Court further held that simply because the independent witnesses had turned hostile, this does not mean that the accused had to be acquitted by disbelieving the version of the prosecution. It held that the report of chemical examiner proved that 5 sample nips contained country liquor and that the prosecution had successfully proved that accused was found transporting 480 bottles of country liquor in his vehicle at the relevant time. Accordingly, on these bases the learned trial Court convicted the accused. 12. The appeal filed by the accused was dismissed by the learned Appellate Court vide judgment dated 14.1.2008. It concluded that PWs 2,7 and 8 had corroborated each other regarding apprehending the accused while carrying 40 boxes containing 480 bottles of country liquor in the jeep without any permit and further it stood proved from the chemical analyses that the bottles were found containing country liquor. The learned Appellate Court further held that though the independent witnesses had not corroborated the prosecution version, however, it cannot be said that the evidence of the police officials could not have been accepted at all. As per the learned Appellate Court, the independent witnesses were duly confronted with their statements made under Section 161 Cr.P.C. when they turned hostile. The learned Appellate Court further disbelieved the contention of the accused that he was being implicated in a false case on the ground that had there been any intent of the prosecution to implicate the accused in a false case then there was no necessity of fastening a case against him of illegally transporting 480 bottles of country liquor because fastening him with transporting 4 such bottles illegally would have had sufficed the purpose. Thus it held that there was no fault in the conclusion reached at by the learned trial Court and accordingly it upheld the judgment passed by the learned trial Court. 13. Mr. Dadwal learned counsel for the petitioner has strenuously argued that the judgments passed by both the learned Courts below are a result of misreading and mis- appreciation of the material on record and the same being perverse, are liable to be set aside by this Court. 13. Mr. Dadwal learned counsel for the petitioner has strenuously argued that the judgments passed by both the learned Courts below are a result of misreading and mis- appreciation of the material on record and the same being perverse, are liable to be set aside by this Court. According to him, there were major discrepancies and contradictions in the statements of the police officials which have been conveniently ignored and overlooked by both the Courts below. He has stressed that a perusal of the statements of police officials will demonstrate that all of them have given a very different picture of the place where the Naka was set up. He further argued that the statement of the photographer is also a very serious pointer towards the fact that the accused has been falsely implicated in the case. Further as per him, the factum of independent witness having turned hostile has also been lightly brushed aside by the learned Courts below because in the peculiar facts and circumstances of the present case the story of the prosecution was not inspiring any trust and the same also lacked truthfulness. As per him, the alleged incident in fact had never taken place, therefore, the independent witnesses had rightly stated in the Court that no such incident took place, as alleged by the prosecution. He has further argued that the factum of the case property not being shown to the witnesses in the Court was also fatal. Lastly, he has argued that even otherwise the sentence imposed upon the petitioner was harsh because the same had been imposed by holding the accused guilty of illegally transporting 480 bottles of country liquor, whereas in view the fact that sample was taken from only 5 bottles out of alleged 480 bottles, then at the most the petitioner could have been held guilty of carrying 5 bottles of country liquor without a valid licence because the prosecution has not been able to prove as to what was contained in the remaining 475 bottles allegedly recovered from the vehicle being driven by the accused. 14. On the other hand Mr. Chauhan, learned Addl. Advocate General argued that this Court is not acting as a Court of appeal but is seized of this matter in its capacity as a Court exercising its revisional jurisdiction under Section 397 read with Section 401 of the Code of Criminal procedure. Mr. 14. On the other hand Mr. Chauhan, learned Addl. Advocate General argued that this Court is not acting as a Court of appeal but is seized of this matter in its capacity as a Court exercising its revisional jurisdiction under Section 397 read with Section 401 of the Code of Criminal procedure. Mr. Chauhan has submitted that there is no infirmity in the judgments passed by the learned Courts below. As per him the factum of independent witnesses having turned hostile is of no consequence because it is well settled law that the prosecution can bring home the guilt of the accused even on the basis of the statements of the police officials provided the statements corroborate the version of the prosecution and they inspire confidence. As per Mr. Chauhan the petitioner has not been able to highlight as to what were the major contradictors in the statements of the public officials. Mr. Chauhan submitted that the contradictions which have been pointed out by Mr. Dadwal are minor and do not impinge the credibility of the statements made by police officials. According to him, there was no discrepancy in the statements of the police officials with regard to where the Naka was put up. He has further argued that the contention of the petitioner that he was falsely implicated in the matter because of animosity with a wine contractor, has been dealt with by the learned Courts below in detail and both the learned Courts below have rightly come to the conclusion that the petitioner/accused had failed to substantiate this allegation. Mr. Chauhan has further argued that the petitioner has not been able to cast any doubt over the report of the chemical analyzer, as per which the samples taken from the country liquor seized from the vehicle being driven by the accused, were in fact of country liquor itself. On these bases, he has argued that there is no merit in the revision and the same is liable to be dismissed. 15. After hearing learned counsel for the parties and perusing the record of the case, I am of the considered view that the judgments passed by the learned Courts below do not warrant any interference. On these bases, he has argued that there is no merit in the revision and the same is liable to be dismissed. 15. After hearing learned counsel for the parties and perusing the record of the case, I am of the considered view that the judgments passed by the learned Courts below do not warrant any interference. Because the independent witnesses have not corroborated the version of the prosecution, this does not means that the credibility or the trustworthiness of the statements of the public officials cannot be tested by the Court independently. In the present case both the learned Courts below have in detail dealt with the statements made by the police officials and come to the conclusion that the same inspired confidence and they substantiated the case of the prosecution. 16. This Court has held in Jaswant Rai and others Vs. State of H.P., 2000 CRL.J. 1970 that though the revisional powers of this Court are very wide but are purely discretionary and are normally to be exercised only in exceptional cases when there is a glaring defect in the procedure or a manifest error on point of law leading to grave miscarriage of justice. Therefore, the power of revision is to be exercised only for correcting the injustice and not mere illegality which may not go to the root of the case. Thus, merely because a view other than the one taken by the Courts below is possible, the findings recorded by such Courts are not to be disturbed. 17. Learned counsel for the petitioner has not been able to persuade me as to why this Court should take a different view than what has been taken by the learned Courts below. He has not been able to convince this Court that the accused was implicated in a false case. He has not been able to substantiate as to how it can be said that the findings arrived at in this regard by the learned Courts below are not based on material on record or are perverse. His contention that some of the police officials were not shown the case property in the Court is also not fatal because according to this Court, the link between the accused and bottles, being carried by him containing country liquor stands proved and clinched. Further case property was shown in Court to PW2 HC Madan Lal. His contention that some of the police officials were not shown the case property in the Court is also not fatal because according to this Court, the link between the accused and bottles, being carried by him containing country liquor stands proved and clinched. Further case property was shown in Court to PW2 HC Madan Lal. Once it is demonstrated by the prosecution that there is no break in the chain from the moment the vehicle was stopped and the liquor bottles were taken into possession and thereafter the case property was sent to Malkhana and samples were sent to the laboratory and the report of the chemical analyzer to the effect that the samples confirmed that there was country liquor in the bottles then it can be safely concluded that there is no illegality or perversity in the findings arrived at by the learned Courts below to the effect that the accused was in fact apprehended carrying country liquor without any valid licence to transport the same. 18. Be that as it may, the fact still remains that number of bottles of liquor being carried by the accused without any licence, even if presumed to be 5, were in excess limit, prescribed for carrying the same without any licence and therefore, the petitioner is guilty of offence punishable under Section 61(1)(a) of the Punjab Excise Act, 1914. However, keeping in view the above fact, in my considered view interest of justice shall be served in case sentence is modified and the convict is sentenced to six months rigorous imprisonment and to pay a fine of Rs. 15,000/-. Accordingly, the sentence passed by the learned trial Court is modified and it is ordered that the convict is sentenced to six months rigorous imprisonment and to pay a fine of Rs. 15,000/- and in default of payment of fine, he shall undergo two months simple imprisonment. With the said modification in the sentence, the conviction of the accused under Section 61(1)(a) of the Punjab Excise Act, 1914 as applicable to the State of HP is upheld and the revision petition is disposed of in the above terms.