Case – Akhil Kishore Ram v. Emperor, 1938
Case Summary
| Citation :- Akhil Kishore Ram v Emperor ,1938 , AIR 1938 Pat 185 | |
| Keywords :- | |
| Facts :-Akhil Kishore Ram resides at Katri Sarai, police station Giriak, in Patna District, where in his own name and under thirteen other aliases he carries on a business of selling charms and incantations which he advertises in a number of newspapers in several provinces of India, and dispatches by value payable post to persons answering the advertisements. Six of these transactions have been the subject matter of the charges. He advertised “Gupta Mantra” and claimed that person will achieve his desire. In case of unsuccessful reward of 100 Rs. was advertised. The petitioner was brought before the Magistrate on six charges which were tried in two batches of three each and was convicted of cheating on all the charges and sentenced in each trial to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 18 months. | |
| Issues :- Whether the accused has committed the offence of cheating? Whether the sentences imposed are excessive against accused? | |
| Contentions :- The substance of the prosecution case and the findings of the Courts below was that whereas by the advertisement clients were made to believe that “there is no necessity of undergoing any hardship to make it effective” and that “it is effective without preparation”, they were disappointed by finding on receipt of the leaflets that in order to work the miracle they must stare unwinking at the moon for fifteen minutes; a feat which if not impossible as some of the prosecution witnesses have represented it to be, is at any rate beyond the powers of ordinary human beings except by long training and preparation. The victims concerned in the six transactions which are before us have all said that had they known of the condition precedent to the using of the Mantra, they would never have sent for it; And the Courts below have accepted that evidence. Prospective purchasers are left to hope that by seven times repeating the Mantra they will attain their object whatever it may be with the assurance that in the event of failure they will get Rs. 100 reward and in case they should still be so sceptical as to wonder whether there is not a catch somewhere, there is the added assurance that the Mantra is effective without preparation and without the necessity of undergoing any hardship. The accused was liable to be sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment of either description for any one of the six offences of which he has been convicted, and in my opinion the sentences of substantive imprisonment imposed, namely eighteen months which will amount to no more than consecutive sentences of three months for each offence are not excessive; nor are the fines. | |
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| Judgement :- | |
| Ratio Decidendi & Case Authority :- |
Full Case Details
Akhil Kishore Ram v. Emperor
AIR 1938 Pat 185
ROWLAND, J. -These two applications have been heard together, the facts in both being
similar. The petitioner was brought before the Magistrate on six charges which were tried in
two batches of three each, and was convicted of cheating on all the charges and sentenced
in each trial to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 18 months. These sentences have been
directed to run concurrently. He was also sentenced at each trial to pay a fine of Rs. 500 in
default to suffer further rigorous imprisonment for six months; the sentences of fine and of
imprisonment in default are cumulative. Appeals to the Sessions Judge of Patna were
dismissed.
The main argument put forward on behalf of the petitioner is that assuming him to have
done those things which the Courts below have found that he did, he has committed no
offence and the second contention is that even if the acts amounted to cheating, the
sentences imposed are excessive. The facts are that the petitioner Akhil Kishore Ram resides
at Katri Sarai, police station Giriak, in Patna District, where in his own name and under
thirteen other aliases he carries on a business of selling charms and incantations which he
advertises in a number of newspapers in several provinces of India, and dispatches by value
payable post to persons answering the advertisements. Six of these transactions have been
the subject matter of the charges.
Mr. Manuk at the outset asked us to bear in mind that what he called the materialist
attitude which regards spells and charms as a fraudulent pretence and sale of them as a
swindle, though widely held, is not shared by a large body of opinion in the East particularly
in India and among Hindus, where the efficacy of magical incantations is still relied on by
many and thought to have a religious basis; and he maintained that there was nothing in the
evidence to show that the petitioner did not propound the spells or incantations advertised
by him in good faith and with a genuine and pious belief in their efficacy; he urged that a
conviction should not be founded on the mere fact that the Court had not faith in the
efficacy of the incantations. We may recognise the existence of contrasting points of view,
but I would express their opposition differently. One outlook is exemplified by words which
the dramatist Shakespeare puts in the mouth of one of his characters:
It’s not in mortals to command success.
But we’ll do more, Sempronius, we’ll deserve it.
This is the mental attitude of those who will spare no effort to secure results by their
own endeavours and to whom, even if results fail them there is a satisfaction in having done
all that man can do. There are those on the other hand who would like success to come to
them but are averse from the effort of securing it by their own sustained exertions; it is not
in them to deserve success but they hope by some device to command it. It is to the latter
class that the advertisements of the petitioner are designed to appeal.
