IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE ANDHRA PRADESH AT HYDERABAD SATURDAY THE TWENTYNINETH DAY OF OCTOBER TWO THOUSAND AND ELEVEN PRESENT THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE G.KRISHNAMOHAN REDDY CRIMINAL PETITION NO. 7360 OF 2008 Between: Kanchapuri Ashok & Anr. … Petitioners-A1 & A2 V/s. The State of Andhra Pradesh Represented by its Public Prosecutor High Court of A.P. Hyderabad. … Respondent-Complainant Counsel for the Petitioners : Sri A. Prabhakar Rao Counsel for the Respondent : Addl.Public Prosecutor The Court made the following : (Order follows next page). THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE G.KRISHNAMOHAN REDDY CRIMINAL PETITION NO. 7360 OF 2008 O R D E R : This Criminal Petition is filed to quash FIR in Crime No.209 of 2008 of Devarakonda Police Station, Nalgonda district, registered for offence punishable under section 34 (e) of A.P. Excise Act, 1968 against the petitioners, for possessing 15 bags of black jaggery, each containing 50 KGs which according to the prosecution was done for preparing illicit distilled liquor. Section 34 (e) of A.P. Excise Act, 1968 reads as hereunder: Whoever, in contravention of this Act or of any rule, notification or order made, issued or passed thereunder or of any licence or permit granted or issued under this Act – (e) uses, keeps, or has in his possession any materials, stills, utensils, implements or apparatus whatsoever for the purpose of manufacturing any intoxicant other than toddy; 2. The learned counsel for the petitioners-accused has argued that the black jaggery and alum are not prohibited articles and absolutely there is no material that they involved actually in preparing illicit distilled liquor making use of the said black jaggery and alum and hence the question of prosecuting them for the alleged offence does not arise at all and eventually the proceedings are liable to be quashed. 3. On the other hand, it is the contention of learned Additional Public Prosecutor that there was no need to keep the said black jaggery and alum except for preparing illicit distilled liquor, which is dangerous to the society, and hence there are no merits in the criminal petition and accordingly it is liable to be dismissed. 4. The point for consideration is whether there are sufficient grounds to quash the proceedings in the above crime. 5. There is no dispute that black jaggery and alum are not prohibited under law. Therefore, any body can keep those products unless there is ample evidence to the effect that those products were used for manufacturing illicit distilled liquor and the material same material, was seized the question of prosecuting the petitioners-accused in respect of the alleged offence does not arise at all. 7. It is pertinent to note here that the alleged incident is said to have been taken place on 31-7-2008 i.e., about more than three years ago and the prosecution failed to seize any such illicit distilled liquor so far. Therefore by prosecuting them no useful purpose will be served and further without any material it amounts to nothing but harassing them and abusing the process of law. 8. In the result, the Criminal Petition is allowed and the FIR in Crime No.209 of 2008 of Devarakonda Police Station, Nalgonda district, is hereby quashed. ___________________________________ JUSTICE G. KRISHNA MOHAN REDDY. 29-10-2011 I s L THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE G. KRISHNA MOHAN REDDY CRIMINAL PETITION NO. 7360 OF 2008 CIRCULATION No. 30 Date:29-10-2011 Court Master: I s L Computer No. 43