Court caseAIR 1970 SC 713

Malkiat Singh, a truck driver, and his cleaner were carrying 75 bags of paddy from Punjab towards Delhi. Export of paddy out of Punjab was prohibited by the Punjab Paddy (Export Control) Order, 1959, made under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955. The truck was stopped at the Samalkha barrier, still inside Punjab and some miles short of the Delhi border. The drivers were convicted of attempting to export paddy in contravention of the Order, and the High Court upheld the conviction.

The Supreme Court allowed the appeal and acquitted the appellants. Ramaswami J held that the offence of export would be complete only when the paddy crossed the Punjab boundary. Up to the barrier the appellants had only prepared to export; it was quite possible that they might have changed their minds and not taken the paddy out of Punjab. The test for determining whether the act constitutes an attempt or preparation is whether the overt acts already done are such that, if the offender changes his mind and does not proceed further, the acts already done would be completely harmless. Here they would be, so the stage of attempt had not been reached.