Case – State of M.P. v. Narayan Singh, 1989
Fact
Narayan Singh & Ors. who were lorry drivers, cleaners and coolie were carrying fertilizer bags in trucks from Indore to Maharashtra. They were intercepted at a Sales Tax Barrier near the border of Maharashtra State. The documents seized from the lorry drivers contained the invoices and other records but did not include permits issued under the Fertilisers (Movement Control) Order, 1973.
Consequently, they were prosecuted under the Fertilizer (Movement Control) Order, 1973, read with sections 3 and 7 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, for exporting fertilisers from Madhya Pradesh to Maharashtra without a valid permit.
Issue
Whether the prosecution must prove mens rea on the part of the accused in exporting the fertilizer bags without a valid permit for securing their conviction?
Whether the evidence on record established only preparation by the accused and not an attempt to export fertilizer bags?
Contentions and Judgement
- The words used in section 7 (1) are ―if any person contravenes whether knowingly, intentionally or otherwise any Order made under section 3. The section is comprehensively worded so that it takes within its fold not only contraventions done knowingly or intentionally but even otherwise, i.e., done unintentionally. The element of mens rea in export of fertilizer bags without a valid permit is therefore not a necessary ingredient for convicting a person for contravention of an order made under Sec. 3.
- The respondents in this case were actually caught in the act of exporting fertilizer bags without a permit therefore from Madhya Pradesh to Maharashtra. If the interception had not taken place at the Sales Tax Barrier, the export would have become a completed act, and the fertilizer bags would have been successfully taken to Maharashtra State in contravention of the Fertilizer (Movement Control) Order, 1973.
- The Trial Court and the High Court committed an error in taking the view that the respondents in each of the appeals were not liable for conviction for contravention of the Fertiliser (Movement Control) Order, 1973 read with sections 3 and 7 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 because the prosecution had failed to prove mens rea on their part in transporting fertiliser bags from Madhya Pradesh to Maharashtra.
- In the commission of an offence, there are four stages viz. intention, preparation, attempt and execution. The first two stages would not attract culpability but the third and fourth stages would certainly attract culpability. In this case, their matter comes under the third stage i.e., attempt.
