LexBALKRISHNA CHHAGANLAL SONI versus STATE OF WEST BENGAL
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BALK.RISH.NA CHHAGANLAL SONI
V.
STATE OF WEST BENGAL
October 22, 1973
107
[H. R. KHANNA, V. R. KRISHNA !YER AND R. S, SARKARIA, JJ.J
C11ston1s Act 1878 (8 of 1878)-S. 107-"rtny p£>rso11s" and "r111y p/ure''"'
111eanf11g of-Scctlori wheth~r i!PPlies to e.mndnation o/ ac~'sed only.
Defence of I11dia Rule:; 1962-r. 126 P. (2)(ii) if applies to smuggled gold ..
The appellant was prosecuted. f~r possessio~ ,of _gold _bars ~f foreign orisin:
in his shop and a gold bar of 1nd1genous ong1n 1n
hts fes1dence.
He was;
charged under r. 126 1(10) re•d witl> r. 126 P(2)(ii). and r. 126 l(il and
r. 126P(i)(i) of the Defence of India Rules, 1962. The Customs authorities
had recorded a statement of the appellant in which he said that the gold rc--
cov~red from his house represented ornaments given to his wife by his mother.
mehe<l. by her into a bar and kept without his knowledge in the almirnb, the:
key of which v;as wilh him.
·
The appellant was convicted by the trial court.
On appeal he was acquitteJ..
on one charge but the senteiice was sustained on o:her charges ..
It w3.!. contended in this Court that -(i) r .126P(2) (ii) could not apply to
~n1ugglcd gold consistently with the .~iew that declaration of non-ornamr;:n~ gold:
<lid not cover smuggled gold, and (n) that s. 107 of the Customs .-'\ct did not
appl}· to examination of the accused but only to o:her witnesses to be
ques~
tioni::d and hence his statement (Ex. 9) should be excluded.
Dismissing the appeal, and confirming the :-;ente"iice.
HELD: (Per Krishna Iyer and Sarkaria JI) Rule 126P (2) (ii)
penalises
a person who had in his p(lssesion or under his control any quantity of gold
in contravention of any provision of Part XII-A of the RuLs. 'It is not po~sible
to cut back on the width of the language used bearing in mind the purpose of
plenary contri ·I the State wanted to impose on gold and exempt smuggled gold
from th~ exp1C1sion "any qunntity of gold" in that sub~rulc. That construction.·
would stultify the law. There was no doubt that the accustd was in control of
the indigenous gold recovered from his residence and there was no case that a
declaration had b!en made regarding it. It is clear from r.126P(2)\li) that
domestic gold was also subject t'"'l the declaration under this rule.
Its possession·
was dearly an offence.
[113B-C]
Section 107 of the Customs Act is wide in its terms-and is-·cle:irty designed to
facilitate the investigatory process by examination without restriction on person,
place or time.
"Any person" in the section covers every person, including a
suspect and po~ential acct.ised.
These__ words of the statute have to be inter·
oreteJ in the light of the policy and purpose of the law. The object of s. 107·
indicates that while the normal process of enquiry is
facilitated by s.
108,
investigatory emergencies are taken care of by s. 107. Situations may arise where
the failure to qu!stion a ,.,,;itness quickly may mean
irretrievable
loss of a
valuable material and s. 107 meets this need.
The context in which the words
''any pers".ln" occur, the objtct of the provision
and the policy underlying-
ch. Xl!I assume relevance and become material in the construction of the text.
Nor does the section exclude the Customs House as a venue for such examina-
tion.
"Any place'' in the iection obviously means anv place and a cnntrarY
view is untenab1e. This provision is plain,hat an authorised customs official is
entitled to examin(" any person at any time, at any place in the course of
enquiry. [1130-G]
Soch1I and economic offences stand on a graver f~oting in respect of punish-
ment. The new horizons in penal treatment with hopeful hues o[ correct=o11
and rehabilitation are statutorily embodied in Tndia in some special enactments:·
108
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[ 1974] 2 s.c.R.
but crimes professionaly committed by deceptively· respectable 1nembers of the
com.n1unity by inflicting severe trauma QD. the health and wealth of the nation-
.and the members of this neo-crimirial tribe arc rapidly escalating-form a
deterrent exemption to hu1nane softness in sente·ncing. [l 14B; DJ
The penal strategy must be informed by social circumstances. individual
factors and the character of the crime .. Smugglers, hoard rs, ad\llterators and
-0thers of their ilk have been busy in their unticnvorld bcc ... U3C the leµ! h rd-
W:lre has not been able to halt the ..jnvisible economic aggressor Excerpt shown. Read the full judgment & AI analysis in Lexace.