Calcutta High Court acquits Hindustan Unilever officials in Red Label Tea misbranding case

The Calcutta High Court Wednesday acquitted the office bearers of Hindustan Unilever Limited in a criminal case filed for allegedly misbranding its product 'Red Label Natural Care Tea' [Hindustan Unilever Limited vs State of West Bengal].

Justice Subhendu Samanta passed the order of acquittal after taking note of certain discrepancies in the prosecution's case against Hindustan Unilever and its office bearers.

The judge noted that the public analyst who had given an opinion that Brook Bond Red Label Tea was misbranded, was never produced by the prosecution before the trial court to prove such an opinion.

The Court further found that the prosecution never explained any reason as to why Hindustan Unilever misbranded its product.

All of this led the judge to ultimately order the acquittal of all the accused in the case.

By way of background, a food inspector of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) registered a criminal case against Hindustan Unilever and its office bearers (petitioners) for allegedly misbranding its Red Label tea product.

The company was accused of violating Section 38 of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act which prohibits using any reference to the Act, rules, etc. on its label. Further, the company was accused of violating Section 39, which prohibits the use of words like 'recommended by medical profession.'

The petitioners were convicted for misbranding the product in 2014 by a municipal magistrate who sentenced them to six months of simple imprisonment along with a fine of ₹ 5,000.

The conviction was set aside by a sessions court in Kolkata. However, the matter was remitted back to the municipal magistrate to consider the matter afresh.

The company, in turn, moved a plea before the High Court to challenge the Sessions Court's decision to send the matter back to the Municipal Magistrate.

The High Court allowed the plea and concluded that the sessions court ought to have acquitted the accused rather than send the matter back for a re-trial.

The Court said that since the sessions court found discrepancies in the prosecution's case, it should have dismissed the entire prosecution case and allowed the appeal.

"The deformity as well as the discrepancies appeared in the prosecution case cannot be cured by only remanding back the case from the stage of examination of accused under Section 313 Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) Moreover, the Appellate Court must not have allowed the prosecution to cure the defect by which the accused would be prejudiced," the High Court held.

Thus, the High Court acquitted all the accused in the matter.

Advocates Sabyasachi Banerjee, Anirban Dutta and Abhijit Chaudhury appeared for the Hindustan Unilever.

Advocates Gautam Dinha and Anindyasundar Chatterjee represented the Kolkata Municipal Corporation.

Advocates Imran Ali and Debjani Sahu represented the State.

[Read Judgment]