Court caseAIR 1966 SC 43

Nathulal, a foodgrains dealer, applied for a licence under the Madhya Pradesh Foodgrains Dealers Licensing Order, 1958 and deposited the fee. The application was rejected, but the rejection was never communicated to him. Believing that the licence had been or would be granted, he went on storing wheat and submitting the returns the Order required. He was prosecuted under s. 7 of the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 for storing foodgrains without a licence. The High Court convicted him.

The Supreme Court acquitted him. Subba Rao J held that mens rea is an essential ingredient of a criminal offence, and that a statute may exclude it only expressly or by necessary implication; the mere fact that the object of the statute is to promote welfare or to eradicate a social evil is not enough. The Essential Commodities Act did not exclude mens rea, and the conduct of the dealer, who had applied, paid, filed returns and believed himself licensed, showed that he had no guilty mind. The strictness of a regulatory offence is a matter of construction, not of assumption.