iminal Appeal No 24 of 1963
Appeal by special leave from the judgment and order dated November 19 1962 of the Punjab High Court Circuit Bench at Delhi in Criminal Revision No 337 D of 1962
R L Kohli for the appellants
H R Khanna and R N Sachthey for the respondent
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by Mudholkar J
This is an appeal by special leave from the summary dismissal of the appellants  application for revision by the High Court of Punjab
Eight persons were tried by the Assistant Sessions Judge Delhi for offences under section 148 section 333149 and section 332149 Indian Penal Code
He acquitted five of them but convicted the three appellants before us of all the three offences and sentenced them to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one year in respect of the offence under section 148 rigorous imprisonment for two years in respect of the offence under section 332149 rigorous imprisonment for three years for the offence under section 333149 and ordered that all the sentences will run concurrently
In appeal the Additional Sessions Judge Delhi set aside the convictions and sentences passed on the appellants for offences under section 148 and section 333149 altered the conviction of each of the appellants from one under section 332149 to section 322 simpliciter and awarded the same sentence in respect of it as had been awarded by the Assistant Sessions Judge in respect of the offence under section 332149
Briefly stated the prosecution case was that on September 16 1961 Mukhtiar Singh Licensing Inspector of the Delhi Municipal Corporation organised a raiding party for catching stray cattle within the limits of the Corporation
The party consisted of Balbir Singh Enforcement Inspector H K Bhanot Sanitary Inspector Kishan Singh Head Constable three foot constables and five cattle catchers
The party reached the neigbourhood of Mori Gate Chowk at about 5 am and rounded up about 25 or 30 stray cattle consisting of buffaloes and cows
While they were taking them to the Nigambodh Ghat cattle pound via Nicholson Road the three appellants who were carrying lathis with them approached the party and threatened them that unless they released the cattle they would have to face serious consequences
The members of the party informed them who they were and the cattle catcbers showed them their identity cards
9 They explained to them that it was their duty to catch stray cattle to impound them and that the appellants could get them released by taking the steps provided by the rules
This however only enraged the appellants who raised shouts asking their friends to come along with lathis in order to help them to get the cattle released by force
Upon hearing the shouts the other accused persons arrived at the spot with lathis joined the appellants and all of them assaulted the members of the party caused injuries to them and got the cattle released by force
As a result of the assault PW 2 Kishan Singh sustained a grievous injury as well as some simple injuries PW 14 Khem PW 20 Padam Singh PW 10 Iqbal Singh PW 19 Nil Bahadur PW 12 Ram Mehar sustained simple injuries
The incident was seen by a number of persons who happened to come to the spot at that time
Eventually a report was lodged with the police investigation was taken up and the appellants and the other accused were placed before a First Class Magistrate who after making a preliminary enquiry committed them for trial by the Court of Sessions
We are not concerned with the defence of the accused persons who were acquitted
The defence of the appellants was that they were bringing the cattle after grazing and watering them and that when they approached Mori Gate at about 430 am a group of persons under the employment of the Corporation met them belaboured them and eventually took them in a van to the police station
The appellants further say that they had acted in the exercise of their right of private defence of their property
Their defence has been rejected by the courts below
Before us Mr Kohli who appears for the appellants has raised two points
The first point is that the raiding party had no authority to seize and impound the cattle and the second point is that the appellants who were the owners of the cattle had a right of private defence of their property that what they did was in exercise of that right and that therefore their conviction under section 332 was bad in law
The power to impound stray cattle is contained in section 4181 of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act 1957 66 of 1957 which runs thus  If any horses cattle or other quadruped animals or birds are kept on any premises in contravention of the provisions of section 417 or are found abandoned 10 and roaming or tethered on any street or public place or on any land belonging to the Corporation the Commissioner or any officer empowered by him may seize them and may cause them to be impounded or removed to such place as may be appointed by the Government or the Corporation for the purpose and the cost of seizure of these animals or birds and Of impounding or removing them and of feeding and watering them shall be recoverable by sale or by auction Of those animals or birds The proviso which would be relevant in connection with another point runs thus Provided that any one claiming such animal or bird may within seven days of the seizure get them released on his paying all expenses incurred by the Commissioner in seizing impounding or removing and in feeding and watering such animal or bird and on his pro ducing a licence for keeping these animals and birds issued under the provisions of section 417
 The power under this section can be delegated by the Com missioner
But according to Mr Kohli delegation of this power has not been established in this case
It is true that the Order of the Commissioner delegating the power under section 4181 is not on the record of the case
It has however been placed before us along with the statement of the case
That order runs thus In exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 491 of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act 1957 1 hereby direct that the power conferred on me under section 4181 of the said Act shall subject to my supervision control and revision be exercised also by the Municipal employees mentioned in column 3 of the schedule given below to the extent stated in column 4 of the schedule
Sd P R Nayak Commissioner Municipal Corporation of Delhi
SCHEDULE Section Nature of power Designation of Scope Municipal employees 4181 Seizure of certain Licensing Inspectors In respect of animals Licensing Inspectors stray cattle only do 11 Mr Kohli however said that the delegation of power is in effective because according to him it purports to make a general delegation of power and does not specify the names of persons to whom the power is delegated
A perusal of the schedule below the order shows that the power of seizure of certain animals is specifically delegated and it is clearly indicated in column 4 thereof as follows In respect of stray cattle only In the third column the designation of the municipal employees to whom the power is delegated has also been given
The section does not require the names of the particular officers in whose favour the delegation is made to be mentioned
What it requires is to specify the officers to whom the power is delegated
This only means that the designation of the officers to whom the power has been delegated need only to be mentioned
That has been done
We may add that section 491 of the Delhi Corporation Act permits delegation to any municipal officer or employee and therefore specific individual authorisation is not necessary
Then Mr Kohli says that the words in the order of delegation shall subject to my supervision control and revision be exercised also by the Municipal employees mentioned in column 3 of the schedule would show that the Commissioner s actual presence on the spot was necessary
It is sufficient to say that shall subject to my supervision etc
 does not mean under my supervision etc
 All that the order contemplates is that the delegation of power to the municipal employees is not absolute but subject to the overall authority of the Commissioner
This cannot mean that whenever a delegated power is being exercised by the municipal employees the Commissioner shall be required to be present
Mr Kohli strenuously contended that the cattle could not be said to have been abandoned because the appellants who are their owners were actually present near the animals when they were rounded up
But this contention is contrary to the finding of each of the courts below which is to the effect that the rounding up operation took half an hour and that it was after the cattle were rounded up and were being taken to the cattle pound that the appellants appeared on the scene
This finding cannot be allowed to be challenged
A more serious contention of Mr Kohli however is that under section 418 cattle which the Corporation can impound must be ownerless or tethered on any street or public place or land 12 belonging to the Corporation
Admittedly the cattle in question were not tethered on any such place and therefore Mr Kohli contends that their seizure was not permissible
In support of his contention that abandoned implies the complete leaving of a thing as a final rejection of one s responsibilities so that the thing becomes ownerless Mr Kohli has referred us to the Law Lexicon and Oxford Dictionary
The meanings relied on by him are as follows A thing banned or denounced as forfeited or lost whence to abandon desert or forsake as lost and gone Wharton s Law Lexicon To let go give up renounce leave off  to cease to hold use or practise The Oxford English Dictionary Vol 1
In the Oxford Dictionary the word is also said to mean to let loose to set free to liberate
Several other meanings of the word have been given both in that dictionary as well as in Wharton s Law Lexicon
In the latter as also in Jowitt s The Dictionary of English Law under abandonment  are given cases from which it would appear that different meanings have been given to abandonment  in different statutes
It will thus be seen that the meaning to be attached to the word abandoned  would depend upon the context in which it is used
in the context in which it occurs in section 4181 the meaning which can reasonably be attached to the word abandoned is let loose  in the sense of being left unattended  and certainly not ownerless 
It is the duty of the court in construing a statute to give effect to the intention of the legislature
If therefore giving a literal meaning to a word used by the draftsman particularly in a penal statute would defeat the object of the legislature which is to suppress a mischief the court can depart from the dictionary meaning or even the popular meaning of the word and instead give it a meaning which will advance the remedy and suppress the mischief 
see Maxwell on Interpretation of Statutes 11th edn
221 224 and 266
In the Act before us when the legislature used the word abandoned it did not intend to say that the cattle must be ownerless
This is implicit in the proviso to sub section 1 of section 418 which says that any one claiming  an animal which has been impounded under that sub section can within 7 days of seizure get it released on fulfilling certain conditions
Such a claim could only be made by 13 a person who is the owner of the animal impounded or who has at least the custody of the animal
We cannot therefore accept the first point raised by Mr Kohli
Upon the finding that the raiding party was entitled in law to impound the cattle no question of private defence arises
For section 99 of the lndan Penal Code specifically says that there is no right of private defence against an act which does not reasonably cause the apprehension of death or of previous hurt if done or attempted to be done by the direction of a public servant acting in good faith under colour of his office Me protection extends even to acts which will not be strictly justifiable by law
But here the act was fully justisiable by the law
There is thus no substance in the second point either
The appeal is dismissed
Appeal dismissed


Summary:
The members of a raiding party led by the Licensing Inspector of the Delhi Corporation having taken into custody 25 or 30 stray cattle were while taking them to the cattle pound belaboured with lathis by the three appellants and their friends as a result of which they received injuries
It was contended on behalf of the appellants that i there was no proper delegation of authority to impound cattle in favour of the persons forming the raiding party by the Commissioner whose personal presence to supervise the exercise of the delegated authority was in any case required by the very order delegating the authority ii the cattle were not abandoned in the sense of being ownerless and therefore could not be legally impounded and iii that the injuries were inflicted by the appellants in the lawful exercise of their right of private defence of property
HELD  i The order of the Commissioner placed before the Court along with the statement of case proved that the Commissioner had authorised licensing Inspectors to impound stray cattle
Section 4181 of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act 1957 Central Act 66 of 1957 did not require that the delegation of power must be to particular named individuals
Nor was the personal presence of the Commissioner to supervise the exercise of the delegated power necessary although according to the terms of the order the delegation was subject to my supervision  control and revision 11E F
ii In the context in which the word abandoned occurred in section 4181 the meaning which can reasonably be attached to it is let loose in the sense of being left unattended and certainly not ownerless
It is the duty of the Court in construing a statute to give effect to the intention of the legislature so as to advance the remedy and suppress the mischief
The legislature when it used the word abandoned in section 4181 did not intend to say that the cattle must be ownerless
12E G
Maxwell on Interpretation of Statutes 11th Edn pp
221 224 and 266 referred to
iii Section 99 of the Indian Penal Code specifically says that there is no right of private defence against an act which does not reasonably cause the apprehension of death or of grievous hurt if done or attempted to be done by the direction of a public servant acting in good faith tinder colour of his office
The protection extends even to acts which will not be strictly justified by law
In the present case the act was fully justifiable by the law
There was thus no right of private defence that could be claimed by the appellants
13B C