When property is in the possession of a person’s wife, clerk or servant on account of that person, it is in that person’s possession within the meaning of I.P.C. Though Section 27 says that the possession of the wife is in certain circumstances the possession of the husband, it does not say that such possession is not that of the wife also.
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The words “on account of that person” are very significant. Where there is no evidence to show that the incriminating articles were held by the petitioner’s wife on account of the petitioner, the petitioner could not be held liable.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
There was no evidence to show that the wife was distilling the liquor on account of her husband. May be, the husband was also responsible for it, but illicit distillation by her could not absolve her under this section.
This section covers cases of different types, e.g., where a master goes out for shooting and entrusts his licensed gun to his servant who carries the same for his master. This section cannot be applied to a case where the possession is not proved to be on account of the accused and specially so in a case where possession itself is a crime and the article is such that the accused might well have been in ignorance that it was in his wife’s possession.
Where the wife, during the husband’s absence, supplied the keys of the box from which stolen articles were recovered, it was held that the husband could not be convicted for possession of those articles. A person employed temporarily or on a particular occasion in the capacity of a clerk or servant, is a clerk, or servant within the meaning of this section.