Amendment status not verified — confirm the current text below against the official source.
Three brothers belonging to joint Hindu family - Bottles containing liquor found in god own owned by them - Joint illegal possession. - In order to convict a person of illegal possession of contraband liquor it is necessary for the Crown to prove that he had knowledge of his possession, and a person who was unaware that it had been placed in his custody cannot be convicted. The mere fact that the three brothers belong to a join Hindu family, and as such own the godown in which the bottles containing the liquor are found concealed does not in a charge under Section 43(A), Bombay Abkari Act, prove that anyone of them was in conscious possession of the bottle lying there so as to bring them within the preview of Section 53. In such a case it is incumbent upon the Crown to prove: (a) that each of the accused had either physical or constructive possession of the property in question; (b) that one or more of them had possession thereof either physical or constructive on behalf of themselves and the other accused and to their knowledge.