Customs Act, 1962 › Chapter XVI — Offences and Prosecutions

Section 138A.  Presumption of culpable mental state

Customs Act, 1962

Bare Act

Section138A. Presumption of culpable mental state. —

(1) In any prosecution for an offence under this Act which requires a culpable mental state on the part of the accused, the court shall presume the existence of such mental state but it shall be a defence for the accused to prove the fact that he had no such mental state with respect to the act charged as an offence in that prosecution.

Explanation. -In this section, "culpable mental state" includes intention, motive, knowledge of a fact and belief in, or reason to believe, a fact.

(2) For the purposes of this section, a fact is said to be proved only when the court believes it to exist beyond reasonable doubt and not merely when its existence is established by a preponderance of probability.

Judgments on Section 138A

  • Commissioner Of Customs vs Duraiappa — Madras High Court, 24 Jun 2019. Where penalty under Section 112 and prosecution under Section 135 of the Customs Act rest on the same set of facts and evidence, the Revenue cannot sustain the penalty after the accused's acquittal in the criminal court…
  • Chessman Impex Private Limited vs Commissioner Of Customs - Chennai Ii… — CESTAT, 21 Aug 2026. A retracted statement cannot, without examining the circumstances in which it was recorded and retracted and without considering the corroborative material on record, be treated as conclusive evidence of the alleged…