HC frames charges under FERA against two persons

Observing that the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act (FERA) had been repealed in May 2000 and the sunset period had also expired on June 1 2002, Madras High Court today quashed charges framed under the act against two persons by a lower court.
Justice A Arumugaswamy, disposing of a criminal revision case, also quashed the charges framed against Saravana Perumal and Xavier Fernando under one section of the Customs Act by the trial court, holding that they differed from charges levelled against them under various sections of the same act in complaint by Assistant Commissioner of Customs, Tuticorin.
The judge directed the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate here to scrap earlier evidence and for the court to record it afresh.

The judge said the complaint could be taken cognisance of for the other offences and directed the trial court to proceed as per law. The court would also decide the time limitation issue.
The petitioners had contended that police in Tuticorin had registered a case against them on a complaint by Customs Department, accusing them of transporting large quanitities of silver ingots of foreign make, which landed at Mukkani by boat on September 27, 1989.
Customs had stated that its officials were attacked by the duo and a crowd with bombs and weapons when they tried to prevent the two from transporting the ingots in two cars. The next day, 133 silver ingots were found in a pit when combing operations were carried out, they said.

Cases were registered against the two under various sections of the IPC for unlawful assembly and causing injury to public servants. But a court in Srivaikuntam acquitted them on February 9,1995.

However, customs officials gave a second complaint on the same facts and the incident under the Customs act.
The Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Madurai, framed charges under various sections of the Customs Act, but the complaint was given under a different section. The incident took place in 1989 and complaint was filed only in December 2003 after an inordinate delay, the petitioners claimed.
Besides, charges were framed under FERA of 2003, though the Act was repealed in 2000 and sunset period of the act was also over in 2002, they said

The Special Public Prosecutor of the Centre said the duo faced charge under the Customs Act, so there was no question of limitation for taking cognisance of the offence.
Acquittal of one petitioner is not a bar to prosecute them in the present case, he said, adding that the offences under IPC sections are different from ingredients of customs act.
Besides, the Judicial magistrate at Srivaikuntam was not competent to try offences under Customs act and so it had been filed in the special court dealing with economic offence in Madurai.
The Customs Act is valid and the principle of estoppel did not arise, SPP had contended.