Amendment status not verified — confirm the current text below against the official source.
Excise Inspector does not fulfill the requirements of an expert - Prosecution has to prove that the material recovered was lahan. Where the Excise Inspector stated that he tasted the contents of the drum boiler and found the same to the partly distilled in a fermented condition. He did not say anything about the contents of the so-called lahan. Lahan consist of water, gur and some fermenting agent. The Excise Inspector did not say that the contents of the boiler contained any fermenting agent. In his report it is simply recorded that it was a mixture of gur, water and kikar, bark out of which some liquor had been distilled and some could yet be distilled. He has also not stated that the kikkar bark was the fermenting agent. There is nothing in report or in the statement of Excise Inspector, that he was an expert. He did not give his qualifications. He even did not say as so how many cases of lahan he had examined. There is nothing on the record to show that he is distillery trained. He also did not state to what was the colour, taste and smell of the alleged lahan. Held, therefore, that his evidence does not fulfill the requirements of an expert and as such the prosecution has failed to prove that the material in the drum recovered from the possession of}he accused was lahan as to fall within the mischief of Section 61 of the Punjab Excise Act.