Supreme Court - Daily Orders
B.Ramesh Babu vs State Of Karnataka on 8 September, 2015
Author: Chief Justice
Bench: Chief Justice, Arun Mishra
1
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CRIMINAL APPEAL NO.1570 OF 2007
B. RAMESH BABU .. APPELLANT(S)
VERSUS
STATE OF KARNATAKA .. RESPONDENT(S)
O R D E R
1. This appeal is directed against the judgment and order passed by the High Court of Karnataka at Bangalore in Criminal Appeal No.1510 of 2001, dated 20.07.2006. By the impugned judgment and order, the High Court dismissed the appeal of the appellant and upheld the order of the Trial Court convicting the appellant under Section 7 and Section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (for short, “the Act”).
2. Brief facts of the prosecution case are: the Signature Not Verified Charanjeet Kaur Date: 2015.09.16 appellant was working as Junior Engineer in Karnataka Digitally signed by 12:54:32 IST Reason:
2
Housing Board at Kengri Satellite Town. The appellant demanded Rs.1,000/- from the complainant in return of issuance of a house plan. A complaint was filed to the Lokayukta and a trap was arranged. The bribe amount of Rs.1000/- was tainted with phenolphthalein powder and handed over to the complainant. During the trap stage the appellant demanded and accepted a sum of Rs.1,000/- as illegal gratification for the purpose of issuance of the house plan. After the signal from the complainant, the Lokayukta Police rushed to the spot and conducted post-trap proceedings. The tainted currency notes were recovered from the appellant. Charges were framed against the appellant under Section 7 and Section 13 (1)(d) read with Section 13 (2) of the Act. The appellant pleaded not guilty and the case was committed to trial.
3. The Trial Court after detailed examination of the evidence on record had convicted the appellant under Section 7 and 13(2) of the Act and sentenced 3 them to rigorous imprisonment for a period of one year and imposed a fine of Rs.2,000/- and in default of payment of fine, further simple imprisonment for two months under Section 7 of the Act. Further, rigorous imprisonment for a period of one year and a fine of Rs.2,000/- and in default of payment of fine further simple imprisonment for a period of two months for the offence under Section 13(1)(d) punished under Section 13(2) of the Act. The sentence of imprisonment and fine were ordered to run concurrently and consecutively by order dated 22.09.2001.
4. Aggrieved by the aforesaid order, the appellant preferred an appeal before the High Court. The High Court by a cryptic order has dismissed the appeal of the appellant upholding the order of conviction and sentence passed by the Trial Court by order dated 20.07.2006.
5. In our considered opinion, the High Court 4 before coming to the conclusion that the Trial Court was justified in convicting the appellant-herein ought to have appreciated the evidence on record.
6. Since the order passed by the High Court is passed without the appreciation of evidence on record, we have no other alternative but to set aside the judgment and order passed by the High Court and remand the matter back to the High Court for its consideration and decision in accordance with law.
7. Accordingly, we remand the matter back to the High Court and request the High Court to dispose of the matter as expeditiously as possible, at any rate, within six months from today.
8. The bail granted by this Court shall enure to the benefit of the appellant for a period of one month from today. However, the appellant is at liberty to file appropriate application before the High Court seeking for a regular bail. It is for the High Court to decide the application for bail on 5 merits.
9. All the contentions of both the parties are kept open.
10. The Criminal Appeal is disposed of accordingly.
Ordered accordingly.
..............CJI.
[ H.L. DATTU ] ................J. [ ARUN MISHRA ] NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 08, 2015.
ITEM NO.8 COURT NO.1 SECTION IIB
S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
Criminal Appeal No(s). 1570/2007
B.RAMESH BABU Appellant(s)
VERSUS
STATE OF KARNATAKA Respondent(s)
(With office report)
Date : 08/09/2015 This appeal was called on for hearing today. CORAM :
HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ARUN MISHRA For Appellant(s) Mr. Basant R., Sr. Adv.
Mr. Sanjay Jain,Adv.
For Respondent(s) Ms. Anitha Shenoy,Adv. UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following O R D E R The appeal is disposed of in terms of the signed order.
[ Charanjeet Kaur ] [ Vinod Kulvi ] A.R.-cum-P.S. Asstt. Registrar [ Signed order is placed on the file ]