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Showing contexts for: section 71 penal code in Emperor vs J.B.H. Johnson on 26 June, 1919Matching Fragments
5. On behalf of the accused it has been urged that the general scheme of the Act including the provisions relating to the textile factories, indicates that the prohibition is not in respect of any individual, but in , respect of the labour collectively, and that therefore an offence under Section 41, Clause (a) is not the offence of employing each individual bat the offence of employing one or more workmen at a time. It is also urged that Section 45 of the Act lends support to that view. It is farther argued that in any case the provisions of Section 71 of the Indian Penal Code are applicable to this case and that there should be. only one punishment in respect of all these offences even if the act of employing each of these persons is treated as a separate act.
7. The provisions of Section 71 of the Indian Penal Code, in my opinion, have no application to this case. If the offence consists of employing the labour collectively of the prescribed hour no resort to Section 11 is necessary. If it is an offence to employ each workman, Section 71 cannot apply. The first paragraph of the section applies to a case where a repetition of the same offence constitutes in the result the same offence. This is indicated by Illustration (a). In the present case the offence, if it consists of employing each workman, is distinct and separate and there is no- one offence collectively merely by the face of a number of these offences having been committed at the same time.
16. It was also argued that more than one punishment could not be inflicted for the several offences by reason of the provisions of Section ,71 of the Indian Penal Code. But it seems to me that that argument merely begged the question. Those provisions could only apply if there were not several offences in the employment of several persons, but merely the general offence of employment. They would not restrict the of punishment in respect of the employment of several persons if this involved several independent offences, but would only restrict the punishment if they involved merely the general offence of employment. It seems to me that recourse could not be had to Section 71 of the Indian Penal Code.