# VDAY SINGH v. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

- **Citation:** [1965] 3 S.C.R. 358
- **Court:** Supreme Court of India
- **Decided:** 1965-03-12
- **Case number:** Criminal Appeal No. 154 of 1963
- **Bench:** K. Subba Rao, J. C. Shah, R; S .. Bachawat; Jj
- **Source:** https://unisonlegal.in/judgment/supreme-court-of-india/vday-singh-v-state-of-maharashtra-3495
- **Pages:** 6

## Headnote

Bomba11 Prohibition Act, 1949
25 of 1949),
_24A, 66 and.
85(1)-Medicinal. Preparation containing alcohol-Drinking not fOT'
intoxication-Burden of proof.
The appellant, drove a jeep at an excessive speed and dashed1
against a wall. In. the jeep was also a bottle_ with a label on it as
"Tinctur(' Zingeberis". On medical exam1nat1on the appellant \vas
found to l:e intoxicated. He was prosecuted under ss. 6il(ll(b) and.
85(1)(1), (2) an.1 (:l) of the Bombay Prohibition Act, 1949; the Magistrate conv'.cted him under the aforesaid sections and sentenced him
under ss. 66(l)(b) and 85(1) of the Act. On appeal the Sessions Judge
acquitted the appellant under s. 66(l)(b) but confirmed the sentence·
under s. 8(,(l )(1 ). The respondent filed an appeal against the acquittal
and the appellant filed a revision against the conviction, which the
High Court heard together and allowed the respondent's appeal··and
dismissed the revision of the appellant. In appeal by certificate;
HELD . Whatever meaning may be given to the expression
"drunk", in this case there was clear evidence that the 3ppellant had
taken the drink for the purpose of intoxication and not for medication
and that under the influenee of drink he had rashly driven his Jeep.
He was drunk and was, therefore, .incapable of taking care of himself. (363 G]
If a persoTl consumes liquor, i.e. any liquid consisting of or
taining akohol. he commits an offence under s. 66(1) of the Act and,
therefore, is liable to be convicted thereunder. But by reason of s ..
24A(2) of the Act, if it is established that the liquor consumed is contained in any rnedieinal preparation which is unfit for use as intoxicating l'quor, the consumption of such liquor is not an o!Ience under the
Act, for the Act itself does not apply to such medicinal preparation.
[360 B, CJ
In terms of s. 66(2) of the Act, the burden of proving that the.
liquor cons111ned vvas a medicinal preparation
alcohol, the
cnnsumpti 1Jn of ¥:hich \Vas not in contravention of the Act etc., or the
rules made thereunder, shifted to the accused. (361 E]
In this case not only the accused failed to discharge the burden
so sh'fted to him by the statute; but the prosecution had also
lished that the said medicinal preparation was fit for use as an intoxicating liquor. (361 GJ
State of Bomba11 (Now Gujarat) v. Naraindas Mangila! Agarwal,
(1962] Supp, 1 S.C.R. 15, held inapplicable.
CFJMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Criminal Appeal No. 154
of 1963.
Appeal from the judgment and order dated May 2, 1961 of the
Bombay High Court (Nagpur Bench) at Nagpur in Criminal
Appeal No. 234 of 1962. ·
M. N. Phfldke and Naunit Lal, for the appellant..
0. P. Rana, B. R. G. K. Achar and R. H. Dhebar, for the respondent.
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VIJAY SINGH v. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA (Subba Rao, J.)
359
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## Text

358
VDAY SINGH
v.
STATE OF MAHARASHTRA
March 12, 1965
[K. SUBBA RAO, J. C. SHAH AND R; S .. BACHAWAT; JJ.J
Bomba11 Prohibition Act, 1949
25 of 1949),
_24A, 66 and.
85(1)-Medicinal. Preparation containing alcohol-Drinking not fOT'
intoxication-Burden of proof.
The appellant, drove a jeep at an excessive speed and dashed1
against a wall. In. the jeep was also a bottle_ with a label on it as
"Tinctur(' Zingeberis". On medical exam1nat1on the appellant \vas
found to l:e intoxicated. He was prosecuted under ss. 6il(ll(b) and.
85(1)(1), (2) an.1 (:l) of the Bombay Prohibition Act, 1949; the Magistrate conv'.cted him under the aforesaid sections and sentenced him
under ss. 66(l)(b) and 85(1) of the Act. On appeal the Sessions Judge
acquitted the appellant under s. 66(l)(b) but confirmed the sentence·
under s. 8(,(l )(1 ). The respondent filed an appeal against the acquittal
and the appellant filed a revision against the conviction, which the
High Court heard together and allowed the respondent's appeal··and
dismissed the revision of the appellant. In appeal by certificate;
HELD . Whatever meaning may be given to the expression
"drunk", in this case there was clear evidence that the 3ppellant had
taken the drink for the purpose of intoxication and not for medication
and that under the influenee of drink he had rashly driven his Jeep.
He was drunk and was, therefore, .incapable of taking care of himself. (363 G]
If a persoTl consumes liquor, i.e. any liquid consisting of or
taining akohol. he commits an offence under s. 66(1) of the Act and,
therefore, is liable to be convicted thereunder. But by reason of s ..
24A(2) of the Act, if it is established that the liquor consumed is contained in any rnedieinal preparation which is unfit for use as intoxicating l'quor, the consumption of such liquor is not an o!Ience under the
Act, for the Act itself does not apply to such medicinal preparation.
[360 B, CJ
In terms of s. 66(2) of the Act, the burden of proving that the.
liquor cons111ned vvas a medicinal preparation
alcohol, the
cnnsumpti 1Jn of ¥:hich \Vas not in contravention of the Act etc., or the
rules made thereunder, shifted to the accused. (361 E]
In this case not only the accused failed to discharge the burden
so sh'fted to him by the statute; but the prosecution had also
lished that the said medicinal preparation was fit for use as an intoxicating liquor. (361 GJ
State of Bomba11 (Now Gujarat) v. Naraindas Mangila! Agarwal,
(1962] Supp, 1 S.C.R. 15, held inapplicable.
CFJMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Criminal Appeal No. 154
of 1963.
Appeal from the judgment and order dated May 2, 1961 of the
Bombay High Court (Nagpur Bench) at Nagpur in Criminal
Appeal No. 234 of 1962. ·
M. N. Phfldke and Naunit Lal, for the appellant..
0. P. Rana, B. R. G. K. Achar and R. H. Dhebar, for the respondent.
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VIJAY SINGH v. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA (Subba Rao, J.)
359
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The Judgment of the Court was delivered by
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Subba Rao, J. This appeal by certificate issued by the High
Court of Judicature at Bombay raises the
construction of some of the provisions of the Bombay Proh1b11ion Act, 1949,
hereinafter called the Act .
'
On June 12, 1961, Vijaysingh, the appellant, and one Namdeo
Shinde drove in a jeep at an excessive speed and dashed it against
the wall of the office of the District Superintendent of Police. Alcola.
Both of them appeared to be intoxicated. In the jeep there was also
a bottle with a label on it as "Tincture Zingeberis". Vijaysingh was
prosecuted before the Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Alcola, under
s. 66(1)(b) and s. 85(1) (!), (2), and (3) of the Act. The said Magistrate convicted the appellant both under s. 66(l)(b) and s. 8511)(1),
(2) and (3) of the Act, but sentenced him only under ss. 66(!)\b) and
85(1)(!) of the Act. On appeal, the learned Sessions Judge, Alcola,
acquitted the appellant under s. 66(!)(b) of the Act, but confirmed
the conviction and sentence under s. 85(1)(1) thereof. Against the
judgment of the Sessions Judge acquitting the appellant under
s. 66{l)(b) of the Act the State of Maharashtra preferred an appeal
to the High Court; and against the order of conviction under s. 35(])
(!) of the Act the appellant preferred a revision to the High Court.
The High Court heard both. the matters together and allowed the
appeal filed by the State and dismissed the revision petition preferred by the accused-appellant. In the result it set aside the order of
acquittal made by the Sessions Judge under s. 66(l)(b) of the Act
and sentenced the accused to rigorous imprisonment for 3 months
and a fine of Rs. 500 and confirmed the conviction and sentence of
the accused under s. 85(1)(!) of the Act. Hence the present appeal.
4arned counsel for the appellant raised before us several contentions for dislodging the judgment of the High Court. We shall
now proceed to deal with them in the order in which they were
addressed to us.
The first contention may be put thus. Under s. 66(2) of the
Act all that an accused need prove is that he has consumed a medical preparation; if he established that, the burden of proving that
the medicinal preparation is fit for use as an intoxicating liquor
shifts to the prosecuti<Jn. In the present case the accused has established that he had taken "tincture zingeberis", which is a medicinal
preparation, but the prosecution failed to prove that it was fit for
use as an intoxicating liquor.
To appreciate this contention it is necessary to notice the
relevant provisions. Under s. 66(1) of the Act, "Whoever in contravention of the provisions of this Act, or of any rule, regulation or
order made ......... consumes ......... any intoxicant shall, on conviction, be punished for a first offence, with imprisonment for a term
whlch may extend to six months and with fine which may extend
SUPREME COURT REPORTS
[1965] 3 S.C.R.
to one thousand rupees." "Intoxicant" is defined to mean, among
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other things, any liquor; and "liquor" is defined to include, among
others, all liquids consisting of or containing alcchol. Under s. l 3(b),
no person shall consume or use liquor. Relevant part of s. 24A
enacts that nothing in Ch. III shall be deemed to apply to any
medicinal preparation containing alcohol which is unfit for use as
intoxicating liquor. The effect of these sections, in so far as they arc
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material for the present case, is that if a pe,rson consumes liquor,
i.e., any liquid consisting of or containing alcohol, he commits an
offence under s. 66(1) of the Act and, therefore, is ,liable to be convicted thereunder. But by reason of s. 24A(2) of the Act if it is
established that the liquor consumed is contained in any medicinal
preparation which 'is unfit for. use as intoxicating liquor, the conC
sumption of such liquor is not an offence under th.e Act, for the
Act itself does not apply to such medicinal preparations. We shall
revert to the question of burden of proof a little later.
The facts found in this case may now be noticed. The accused
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says that he consumed "tincture zingeberis" and produced before
the police a sample bottle out of which he says he had consumed
tincture zingeberis. A sample of the liquid was an<ilysed by the
Chemical Analyser. His report shows that the liquor was a weak
Ginger Tincture B.P. 1958- (Tincture Zingeberis- Mitis); absolute
alcohol content was 89.1 per cent. VIV. The report further states
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as regards alcohol contents of the liquid that the sample contained
90.0 per cent. of VIV of ethyl alcohol though the B.P. limits were
86 to 90 per cent. V /V. "The analysis has also given the quantity
of total solids as 0.62 per cent.
per ml. at 20 degrees to be
0.825 g." In the opinion of the Chemical Analyser, the sample
complied with pharmacopical specifications. On the basis of the
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report, the High Court found that the accused consumed a medicinal preparation which was listed in the British Pharmacopia, 1958
edition, and which had alcohol contents to the extent of 90 per
cent. V /V of ethyle alcohol. The Chemical Analyser to the Government of Maharashtra examined the sample blood taken ·from the
body of the accused by applying "modified Cavette's method" and
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gave his report to the effect that the sample blood of the accused
contained 0.207 mg. p.c. w /v of ethvl alcohcl. The High Court also
found on the expert evidence that blood alcohol concentration on
taking a normal dose of tincture zingeberis mitis would be nbout
0.007 per cent. W /V and the accused should have taken roughly
about 125 c.c. of tincture zingeberis to induce an alcohol ·content of
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0.207 per cent. found in his blood by the Chemicd Analyser. On
the basis of the evidence of Dr. Deshmukh, the High Court also
found that Tincture Zingeberis Mitis was a
which
might be consumed for intoxication and that intoxication would
not be accompanied by any other harmful effects. On the ether
hand the accused has not adduced any evidence that the said medicine is a medicinal preparation unfit for uoe as intoxicating liquor.
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VIJAY SINGH v. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA (Subba Rao, J.)
361
The question whether the prosecution has discharged its
burden of proof in this case will have to be considered on the basis
of the said facts found by the High Court. Section 66(2) of the Act,
which bears on the question of burden of proof, reads thus :
"Subject to the provisions of sub-section (3), where in any
trial of an offence under clause (b) of sub-section (!) for
the consumption of an intoxicant, it is alleged that the
accused person consumed liquor, and it is proved that the
concentration of alcohol in the blood of the accused
person is not less than 0.05 per cent. weight in volume
then the burden of proving that the liquor consumed was
a medicinal or toilet preparation ...... containing alcohol,
the consumption of which is not in contravention of the
Act or any rules, regulations or orders made thereunder,
shall be upon the accused person, and the Court shall in
the absence of such proof presume the contrary."
It has been proved in this case that the accused person consumed liquor and that the concentration of alcohol in his blood was
more than 0.05 per cent. weight in volume. So in terms of sub-s. (2)
of s. 66 of the Act the burden of proving that the liquor consumed
w&s a medicinal preparation containing alcohol, the consumption
of which was not in contravention of the Act etc. or the rules made
thereunder, shifted to the accused. He could have discharged this
burden by proving, inter a/ia, that the medicinal preparation containing alcohol which he had taken was unfit for use as an intoxicating'liquor; if so much had been established, as under s. 24A of
the Act, the Act itself does not apply to such medicinal preparations, the accused would not have committed any offence under the
Act. The High Court found that the accused had not placed any
material to prove that tincture zingeberis mitis was unfit for use as
an intoxicating liquor; indeed, it accepted the evidence adduced on
behalf of the prosecution and held that it was fit for use as an
intoxicating liquor. In this case not only the accused failed to discharge the burden so shifted to him by the statute, but the prosecution had also established thllt the said medicinal preparation was fit
for use as an intoxicating liquor. Reliance is placed by the learned
counsel for the appellant on the decision of this Court in The State
of Bombay (now Gujarat) v. Narandas Mangilal Agarwal(') wherein it was held, in the circumstances of the case, that it was for the
State to prove that the medicinal preparation was not unfit for use
as intoxicating liquor. But that decision was given on thl' relevant
provisions of the Act before it was amended by the Bombay Act
XH of 1959. Section 66(2) was added by the said Act which in
express terms states that in the circumstances mentioned in the
sub-section the burden of proof shifts to the accused. The said
('J [1962] Supp. 1 S.C.R. 15.
362
BUP!lEME COURT BEPORTB
(1965) 3 B.C.8.
deCision cannot, therefore, be invoked in the changed circumstances.
The present case falls to be decided on the interpretation of s. 66(2)
of the Act. We, therefore, hold that the High Court came to the
correct conclusion on the question of burden of proof and gave its
finding on the evidence adduced before it.
It was then argued that even if the burden of proof in the
circumstances of the case shifted to the accused that burden was
discharged by reason of s. 6A of the Act. Under s. 6A of the Act
for the purpose of enabling the State Government to determine
whether any medicinal preparation containing alcohol is an article
fit for use as intoxicating liquor, the State Government shall constitute a Board of Experts; and under sub-s. (6) thereof, it shall be
the duty of the Board to advise the State Government on the question whether any article mentioned in sub-s. (1) of s. 6A is fit for
use as. intoxicating liquor and upon determination of the State
Government that it is so fit, such- article shall, until the contrary is
proved, be. presumed to be fit for use as intoxicating liquor. Under
sub-s. (7) thereof, "Until the State Government has determined as
aforesaid any article mentioned in sub-section (I) to be fit for use
as intoxicatir.:g liquor, every such article shall be deemed to be
unfit for such use." On the basis of this section, the argument proceeded that the State Government did not determine under s. 6A of
the Act that 'Tincture Zingeberis Mitis' was fit for use as intoxicating liquor and, therefore, _the said article shall be deemed to be unfit for such use, with the result the burdtm which shifted to the
accused under s. 66(2) of the Act was statutorily discharged. There
i5 considerable force in this argument; but unfortunately this point
was raised only for the first time before us. There is nothing on the
record to show that the State Government has not decided that the
said article is fit for use as intoxicating liquor. If this question had
been raised at the appropriate time, the relevant material would
have been placed before the Court. Even though the argument was
raised no attempt was made even after the filing of the appeal or
even at the time of the arguments to place the relevant material
before this Court to sustain the said legal argument. We cannot,
therefore, permit the appellant to raise the point for the first time
before us, particularly when there is utter lack of factual basis.
The next argument of the learned counsel that the High
Court came to the conclusion it did on irrelevant evidence has no
force It is said that the prosecution did not adduce any evidence to
prove that "Tincture Zingeberis Mitis" was not unfit for use as an
intoxicating liquor. To state it differently, the argument is that unless it was established by the prosecution that the consumption of a
medicinal_ preparation had no harmfill effects on the health of the
person consuming it, it could not be said that it was not unfit for
use as intoxicating liquor. In the present case the High Court found
on the evidence that "Tincture Zingeberis Mitis" was a preparation
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VIJAY SINGHV. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA (SubbaRao, J.)
363
which might be consumed for intoxication and that intoxication
would not be accompanied by any harmful effects. This contention,
therefore, must be rejected.
The last argument turns upon the provisions of s. 85(1)(1) and
(2) of the Act. The relevant part of s. 85 reads:
(I) Whoever in any street or thoroughfare or public place
or in any place to which the public have or are permitted to have access-
(1) is drunk and incapable of taking care of himself,
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(2) In prosecution for an offence under sub-section (I), it
shall be presumed until the contrary is proved that
·the person accused of the said offence has drunk
liquor or consumed any other intoxicant for the purpose of being intoxicated and not for a medicinal
purpose.
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It was contended that s. 85 of the Act laid down two conditions, namely, that the accused should have b"en drunk and incapable of taking care of himself and also that he should have taken
the drink for the purpose of being intoxicated and not for a medicinal purpose. This conclusion, the argument proc;;eded, would
E . flow from sub-s. (2), for otherwise, so it was said, the presumptive
rule of evidence enacted in sub-s. (2) would be unnecessary and even
irrelevant if the purpose mentioned therein was not an ingredient
of the offence.
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This raises an interesting question of law, but, in view of the
finding of fact arrived at by the High Court it does not call for a
decision in this appeal. Assuming without deciding that the argument has some substance, the finding of the High Court satisfies the
test suggested by the argument. Whatever meaning is given to the
expression "drunk", in this case there is clear evidence that the
accused had taken the drink for the purpose of intoxication and
not for medication and that under the influence of drink he had
rashly driven his jeep into the office of the District Superintendent
of Police and dashed it against the wall of that office. He was drunk
and was, therefore, incapable of taking care of himself. On the
facts found the High Court rightly held that the accused committed
an offence under s. 85(1) of the Act.
In the result, the appeal fails and is dismissed.
Appeal dismissed.