ANIL KUMAR BOSE versus STATE OF BIHAR

Citation: [1974] 3 S.C.R. 902 · Decided: 10-04-1974 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: HANS RAJ KHANNA · Disposal: Appeal(s) allowed

Cited by 1 judgment(s) · see the full citation network in Lexace

Judgment (excerpt)

902 
ANIL KUMAR BOSE 
.v. 
STATE OF BIHAR 
April 10, 1974 
[H. R. KHANN1" AND P. K. GOSWAMI, JJ,J 
Penal .Code....:...$. 420--G11i!1J intention an essential ingredient of offence of 
cheating-mens rea. 
A 
B 
The appellants. an accountant and a cashier, along with 
another person, 
were !"1.Ccused of preparing false pay bills and disbursing the amounts drawn from 
Lhe treasury iO a'ictitious pet'sons. 
The Sessions Judge convicted and sentenced 
them under S. 420. read with s. 34, I.P.C. Oil appeal, the High Court confirmed 
the convictions and sentences passed against both of. them. 
C 
On further appeal to this Court, 
Allowing the appeals, 
HELD : For lhe purpos~ of holding the appellants guilty the evidence adduc_ 
ed m~st establish beyond reasonable doubt mea11s rra on their part. [904 E] 
On the evidence all that could be :oaid at the highest was that it was a faiiurc 
Qn the 'part of the accountant to perform his duties or to observe the rule:; of 
procedure laid down in ~he duty chart in a proper manner and may therel'ore be 
an administrative lapse on his part. 
Without, however, anything more it 
will 
not be correct to impute guilty intention which is an essential ingredien1 of the 
offence of cheating. [905 D] 
The material b.!fore the High Court together with the significant observations 
made by- it against. the Superintendent and Deputy Superintendent do make out 
a case for giving b~nefit of reasonable doubt to the cashier as well. It is 
not 
possible to hold that the requisite means J'ea had been established against him. 
[906 Fl 
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal Nos. 223 
and.224 of 1970. Appeals by Special Leave from the Judgment and 
Order dated the 4th August 1970 of the Patna High Court in Cr!. 
Appeals Nos. 213 and 236 of 1967. 
S. Ba/akrishnan, N. M. Ghatate and B. Chakravarti, for the appel· 
!ant (in Cr!. A. No. 223/70). 
Nuruddin and S. M. Singh for the appellant (in Cr!. A. No. 224 
of 1970). 
R. C. Prosad for the Respondent (in Cr!. A. No. 223/70). 
D. Gobrurdhan for the Respcndent (in Cr!. A. No. 224/70). 
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by 
GoswAMI, J. 
These 
appeals 
by special leave 
are 
directed 
against the judgment of the Patna High Court convicting the two appel-
lants and another under section 420/34, Indian Penal Code. They 
have each been sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for one ye"r and 
a fine of Rs. 200/-, in default regorous imprisonment for six months. 
Dr. Rama Shankar (PW 14) and Dr. Ram Balak-Singh (PW 4) were 
D 
E 
F 
G 
H 
i· 
j 
A. K. BOSE v. BilIAR (Goswami,].) 
903 
A 
House Physicians and Dr: Saile'ndra Kumar (PW 5) was 
a Hcu>e 
Surgeon in the Durbhanga Medical College Hospital. Hospital House 
Surgeons or House Physicians are usually appointed for different sec-
tions of the Hospital by the Superintendent of the Hospital for a period 
of six months, January to June and July to December and their monthly 
emoluments total Rs. 125/-; Rs. 75/- towards stipend and Rs. 50 as 
B 
c 
D 
E 
F 
G 
H 
diet allowance. 
. The prosecution case is that for the month of· March 1963 a 
fictitious pay bill for Rs. 125 /- . was prepared in the name of Dr. 
Rama Shankar, who had worked only for six months up to December, 
1962 and had made over charge in January 1963. A similar pay bill 
for March 1963 was prepared for Dr. Sailandra Kumar, who was 
working in Ear, Nose and Throat Department, but this bill was 
prepared in the Pediatric Sectic1I1. Likewise another fictitious pay 
bi!J for the same month was prepared in the name of Dr. Ram Balak 
Singh, ·although he never joined that post and he was substituted by 
Dr. Rana Chandraketu. The amounts of the three 
aforesaid pay 
bills were drawn from the Treasury and disbursed to fictitious persons. 
The letters of appointment and the joining reports of the 
various 
House Staff were as usual sent to the Accounts Department for pre-
paration of the pay bills. 
• 
Y ogesh Prasad Thakur was the Bill Clerk, who has not appealed 
against his conviction. The Accountant, Raghunath Prasad and the 
Cashier, Anil Kumar Bose, are the twci appellants before ns. Criminal 
Appeal No. 223 of 1970 is by Anil Kumar Bose and Criminal Appeal 
No. 224 of 1970 is. by Raghunath Prasad. Both these appeals are 
heard together and are disposed of by this common i1ldgment. 
According to the rules of procedure, such pay bills used to be 
prepared by the Bill Clerk, checked by the Accountant and then 
· placed for signature before

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