Court case(1980) 3 SCC 57

Acting on information, customs officers followed a truck and a jeep at midnight to a lonely creek near Bassein (Vasai). Silver ingots, concealed in gunny bags, were being unloaded from the truck near the water; the sound of the engine of a mechanised sea-craft was heard from the creek. The respondents were charged with attempting to export silver in contravention of the Customs Act, 1962 and the foreign exchange law. The Magistrate convicted them; the Sessions Judge and the High Court acquitted on the ground that the acts were only preparation, since the silver had not yet been put on a boat. The State appealed.

The Supreme Court restored the conviction. Sarkaria J held that an attempt has three ingredients: the intention to commit the offence, preparation, and an act towards its commission, which must be reasonably proximate to the consummation of the offence. Here the respondents had carried the silver in secrecy by night to a creek, unloaded it near the water and a craft was waiting; these were acts proximate to the export, beyond preparation. Chinnappa Reddy J, concurring, said that an attempt is an act which is more than preparation, done with intent, towards the commission of the offence; whether an act is proximate enough is a matter of degree judged by common sense, and no precise formula can be laid down. Malkiat Singh (1970) was distinguished because there the truck was far from the border and could have turned back.