IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Criminal Revision No.2164 of 2005 Date of Decision 06.12.2010 Raj Kumar ...... Petitioner VERSUS State of Haryana ...... Respondent CORAM:- HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE A.N.JINDAL Present: None for the petitioner. Mr.J.S.Rattu, Deputy Advocate General, Haryana, for the respondent-State. ***** A.N.JINDAL, J: This petition has arisen out of the judgment dated 12.11.2005, passed by the Appellate Court at Rewari, dismissing the appeal of the petitioner-accused (herein referred as 'the petitioner') against the judgment dated 20.01.2004, passed by Chief Judicial Magistrate, Rewari, convicting and sentencing him to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of six months and to pay a fine of Rs.1,000/- under Section 61(i)(a) of the Punjab Excise Act (for brevity 'the Act'). The allegations against the petitioner are that he was found in possession of 1400 pouches of illicit liquor make 'Mastana'. He was arrested and a ruqa was sent to the police station on the basis of which FIR was registered and the matter was investigated. Consequently, on trial, he was convicted and sentenced accordingly. His appeal also failed. Even otherwise, on scrutiny of the impugned judgment, perusal of the records and on hearing Mr.J.S.Rattu, Deputy Advocate General, Criminal Revision No.2164 of 2005 -2- Haryana, it transpires that the evidence, as examined by the prosecution, has been appreciated in the right perspective. The witnesses have consistently stated that the petitioner was found in possession of 1400 pouches of illicit liquor. Non-joining of the independent witness is not fatal to the present case. No such illegality much less perversity or manifest error apparent on the record, has been pointed out which may result into miscarriage of justice or cause any prejudice to the petitioner, therefore, the findings returned by both the Courts below regarding conviction, do not call for any interference at this revisional stage. The occurrence is of the year 2001. The petitioner has already suffered a lot on account of the protracted proceedings pending in the Courts since 2001. The sword of sentence remained hanging over his head since then. He has already undergone about one month of the substantive sentence. No bad antecedents have been pointed out to enable this Court to dub him as habitual offender, therefore, it would be in the fitness of things to reduce the sentence to some extent by enhancing the fine. Resultantly, this petition is dismissed with the modification in the sentence which is reduced to three months. However, the sentence of fine is enhanced to Rs.10,000/- which would be paid by the petitioner within three months from today, failing which, he would serve the remaining part of sentence, as awarded by the Courts below. Copy of the judgment be sent to Chief Judicial Magistrate, Rewari, for compliance. (A.N.Jindal) Judge 06.12.2010 mamta-II