Supreme Court - Daily Orders
Shabbir Sheikh vs The State Of Madhya Pradesh on 17 August, 2021
Bench: K.M. Joseph, S. Ravindra Bhat
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CRIMINAL APPEAL NOS. 846-847 OF 2021
(Arising out of SLP (Crl.) Nos. 2995-2996 of 2019)
SHABBIR SHEIKH ETC. Appellant (s)
VERSUS
THE STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH Respondent(s)
O R D E R
Leave granted.
The appellants herein who are accused Nos. 3 and 2 respectively were tried in Sessions Trial No. 260/2010 whereby the appellants stand convicted under Sections 489B, 489C read with Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code. They were tried along with six others.
The trial Court awarded sentence of life which is under Section 489B and maximum period of 7 years under Section 489C. They were also sentenced to life imprisonment under Section 120B of the IPC.
In the impugned judgment passed in the appeal filed by the appellants, the High Court did not find it fit to interfere with the conviction or sentence.
We have heard Mr. Deepak Nargolkar, learned senior counsel appearing on behalf of appellants, and Mr. Pulkit Agarwal, learned counsel for the respondent-State. Signature Not Verified Notice was issued in this case only on the question Digitally signed by Nidhi Ahuja Date: 2021.08.24 18:57:41 IST Reason: relating to sentence awarded, i.e., sentence awarded under Sections 489B and 120B IPC appellants having been sentenced 1 CRIMINAL APPEAL NOS. 846-847 OF 2021 (Arising out of SLP (Crl.) Nos. 2995-2996 of 2019) for life thereunder.
After hearing learned counsel for the parties, we must notice that the High Court in the judgment has, while dealing with the case of the accused, dealt with the case of another accused viz., Bhikari Mukhiya in the following terms:
“(v) Bhikari Mukhiya is having criminal antecedent as one more case of counterfeit currency was registered against him at PS Sigoli, District Motihari, Bihar.
Rs.25,000/- was deposited in his account by Rauf as is evident from the report of handwriting expert PW-22 connecting him to the conspiracy.
Rs.10-11 lakhs deposited in his account in a short span of time and no explanation offered by him in respect of the same.” When we queried learned counsel for the State as to whether there is any like conviction in regard to the appellants, learned counsel for the State submitted that there is no conviction as against the appellants. This is important aspect which we must bear in mind when it comes to taking the decision as to whether the appellants should be visited with the maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
We take note of the fact that the appellants were 35 years and 40 years of age respectively at the time of the commission of the offence. We further bear in mind the submission of the learned senior counsel appearing for the appellants that they are drawn from a poor economic background.
2 CRIMINAL APPEAL NOS. 846-847 OF 2021 (Arising out of SLP (Crl.) Nos. 2995-2996 of 2019) The case of the prosecution as against the appellants, we may further notice, is based on the recovery of a Rs.1000 note which no doubt has been recovered from the first appellant on his information. As far as second appellant is concerned, the recovery is to the tune of Rs.8000/-.
No doubt, apart from the evidence under Section 27 of the Evidence Act, the prosecution has relied on telephone talks.
Having regard to the totality of the circumstances in this case, we would think that the interest of justice would require that we modify the sentence which has been imposed upon the appellants in the following manner:
(1) We allow the appeals partly.
(2) The impugned judgment shall stand modified. We
order that in place of imprisonment for life imposed on the appellants under Sections 489B and 120B of the IPC, the appellants shall instead stand sentenced to 10 years Rigorous Imprisonment.
Needless to say, we are not disturbing the conviction under Sections 489B and 489C read with Section 120B IPC.
………………………………………………………., J.
[ K.M. JOSEPH ] ………………………………………………………., J.
New Delhi; [ S. RAVINDRA BHAT ]
August 17, 2021.
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CRIMINAL APPEAL NOS. 846-847 OF 2021 (Arising out of SLP (Crl.) Nos. 2995-2996 of 2019) ITEM NO.15 Court 11 (Video Conferencing) SECTION II-A S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS Petition(s) for Special Leave to Appeal (Crl.) Nos. 2995-2996/2019 (Arising out of impugned final judgment and order dated 10-05-2018 in CRLA No. 162/2015 and CRLA No. 453/2015 passed by the High Court of M.P. Principal Seat at Jabalpur) SHABBIR SHEIKH ETC. Petitioner(s) VERSUS THE STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH Respondent(s) Date : 17-08-2021 These petitions were called on for hearing today. CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE K.M. JOSEPH HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE S. RAVINDRA BHAT For Petitioner(s) Mr. Deepak Nargolkar, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Shantanu Sagar, AOR For Respondent(s) Mr. Pulkit Agarwal, Adv.
Mr. Pashupathi Nath Razdan, AOR Ms. Maitreyee Jagat Joshi, Adv.
Mr. Ashutosh Kumar, Adv.
Mr. KP Jayram, Adv.
UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following O R D E R Leave granted.
The appeals are allowed partly in terms of the signed order.
(NIDHI AHUJA) (RENU KAPOOR)
AR-cum-PS BRANCH OFFICER
[Signed order is placed on the file.] 4