Custom Act, 1962
138A.
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.