IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH, SHIMLA Criminal Appeal No.393 of 2001 Date of decision : May 19, 2008 State of H.P. …Appellant. Versus Ravinder Jeet Singh & others …Respondents. Coram The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Surjit Singh, Judge. Whether approved for reporting?1. No. For the appellant : Mr. P.M. Negi, Deputy Advocate General. For the Respondents : Surjit Singh, Judge (Oral) State is aggrieved by the judgment of Chief Judicial Magistrate, whereby the respondents, who were charged with and tried for offences, punishable under Section 379 IPC and Sections 33, 41 and 42 of the Indian Forest Act, have been acquitted. 2. First, the relevant facts may be noticed. A report was lodged with the Incharge, Police Post, Kala Amb, on 22.3.1999 at 5.15 AM, by PW-1 Hari Ram, Block Officer, Todarpur, that on the night intervening 21st and 22nd March, 1999, when he was present at his native place in village Jafarpur in Haryana State, which is adjacent to Forest Block, Todarpur, of which he was Incharge, he received information that some Khair trees have been felled in the forest, under his charge, and the logs converted from those trees were being carried from that forest in a tractor to a point in Haryana State, where the same were being loaded into a truck. He further stated that he went to the Whether reporters of the local papers may be allowed to see the judgment? …2… spot accompanied by his son on a motor-cycle and saw that the logs of Khair wood were being brought from a forest in Himachal Pradesh to a point in Haryana State, where the same were being transferred into a truck. After entering the aforesaid report of PW-1 Hari Ram, PW-8 ASI Mukesh Kumar accompanied by PW-2 HC Vinay Kumar and the above named Block Officer PW-1 Hari Ram went towards Haryana. Truck No. HR-37-1886 was intercepted at a place called Mehmudpur in Haryana State, which was being driven by respondent Ajay Kumar. Respondent Nasirudeen was also present in the truck. They told that the wood belonged to respondent No.4 Walideen alias Lilu, who was following the truck on his motor-cycle. Respondent Ravinder Jeet Singh was stated to be a co-driver with Ajay Kumar. Khair wood being carried in the truck was seized and given on Supurdari. 3. During the course of trial, prosecution examined the above named Block Officer and two police officials, besides Beat Guard PW-4 Om Parkash, to prove the charge. PW-4 Om Parkash stated that he went to the forest for checking on 21.3.1999 and found that five Khair trees of 4th class had been illicitly felled. However, the damage report Ext.PW1/C, issued by the witness, is dated 23.3.1999. The witness could not explain why did not he issue the damage report on the very day of the checking of the forest, i.e. 21.3.1999 when he found five Khair trees illicitly felled. 4. Story put forward by PW-1 Hari Ram, while appearing as a witness, is contradictory to the earliest version given by him to the police, vide report Ext.PW1/A. As per the aforesaid report, he was present in his house in village Jafarpur in Haryana State when he got the information about the felling of the trees and the wood being illicitly transported, but while in the witness box, he stated that he was at his …3… headquarters in Himachal Pradesh. Again, in report Ext.PW1/A, he got recorded that the wood was being shifted from the forest, under his charge to a place in Haryana State in a tractor where it was to be loaded in a truck, but while in the witness box, he stated that when he reached the spot, there was only a truck in the forest in Himachal Pradesh and the wood was being loaded in that truck. At the same time, he and the other witnesses, namely PW-8 ASI Mukesh Kumar and PW-2 HC Vinay Kumar have stated that a truck cannot go to the site where the trees had been felled. 5. Testimony of PW-1 Hari Ram gives the impression that he reached the spot around 2 or 2.30 AM and within 10-15 minutes he reached Police Post, Kala Amb and lodged the report and within next 5-6 minutes, he accompanied by the above named two police officials, reached village Mehmudpur in Haryana State and the truck was intercepted. That means, the truck was intercepted around 3 AM, on the night intervening 21st and 22nd March, 1999, but the report Ext. PW1/A, which he lodged at Police Post, Kala Amb, is timed 5.15 AM, meaning thereby that the truck was intercepted after 5.15 A.M. 6. Admittedly, the truck was intercepted in the area of Haryana State. There is no evidence that the wood, which was being carried in the truck, had been extracted from the trees allegedly felled in the forest, under the charge of PW-1 Hari Ram. No demarcation of the site where the trees were found felled had been carried out, per testimony of PW-7 Jagdarshan Singh, Forest Kanungo. 7. In view of the above stated position, I see no merit in the appeal. The same is, therefore, dismissed. May 19, 2008(ss) ( Surjit Singh ), J