The master or person in charge of a merchant vessel, on board of which any deserter from the Army, Navy or Air Force of the Government of India is concealed, shall, though ignorant of such concealment, be liable to a fine not exceeding five hundred rupees, if he might have known of such concealment by the exercise of due diligence or if he had failed to exercise all reasonable means to ascertain whether any such deserter was concealed on board his vessel.