Himachal Pradesh High Court
Shaukat Ali & Anr. vs . State Of Hp on 21 June, 2024
Author: Sandeep Sharma
Bench: Sandeep Sharma
Shaukat Ali & Anr. Vs. State of HP .
Cr. Appeal No. 207 of 2024 21.06.2024 Present: Mr. Sanjeev Bhushan, Senior Advocate, with Mr. C.D.Negi, Advocate, for the appellants.
Mr. Rajan Kahol, Mr. Vishal Panwar, & Mr. B.C Verma, Additional Advocates General with Mr. Ravi Chauhan, Deputy Advocate General, for respondent-State.
Cr.MP No. 1631 of 2024 By way of instant application filed under Section 397(1) read with Section 482 of Code of Criminal Procedure, prayer has been made on behalf of applicants-appellants for suspension of sentence imposed by learned Special Judge, Hamirpur, District Hamirpur, H.P., in Sessions trial No. 51 of 2021, whereby court below, while holding applicants-appellants guilty of having committed offences punishable under Sections 15(b) and 20(b) (ii) (A) of ND & PS Act, convicted and sentenced them to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of four years and pay compensation to the tune of Rs. 35,000/- to the respondent-complainant.
Prayer made on behalf of appellants for suspension of sentence has been opposed by the respondent-State by filing reply, wherein it has been stated that since applicants- appellants have committed heinous crime, having adverse effect on society, it may not be in the interest of justice to suspend their sentence because, in that event, they may indulge in these activities again.
::: Downloaded on - 21/06/2024 20:37:27 :::CIS However, having perused reply, this court finds that .
there is no mention of case, if any, registered against the applicants-appellants in the past under ND & PS Act and as such, aforesaid apprehension of the respondent-State, that in the event of being enlarged on bail, applicants-appellants may indulge in such activities again, is unfounded.
Since, it is not in dispute that applicants-appellants were on bail during the pendency of the trial before the learned court below, coupled with the fact that considerable time is likely to be consumed in the conclusion of appeal at hand, this court sees no reason to curtail the freedom of the applicants- appellants during the pendency of the appeal.
Consequently, in view of above, present application is allowed. Substantive sentence imposed by the learned trial court is ordered to be suspended and appellants are ordered to be released on bail subject to furnishing bail bonds in the sum of Rs. 50,000/- (Rupees Fifty Thousand only) each with one surety each in the like amount to the satisfaction of learned trial court, undertaking therein to appear before learned trial court to undergo the sentence imposed upon them undertaking therein to appear before trial court to receive the sentence imposed upon them in the event their appeal is ultimately dismissed. Application stands disposed of. A downloaded copy of this order shall suffice for learned trial court to except bail bonds/ surety bonds and issued release warrants.
June 21, 2024 (Sandeep Sharma),
(sunil) Judge
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