Supreme Court - Daily Orders
The State Of Rajasthan vs Narender Singh on 17 September, 2019
Bench: Deepak Gupta, Aniruddha Bose
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CRIMINAL APPEAL Nos. 1446-1447 OF 2019
[Special Leave to Appeal (Crl.) No(s). 384-385/2014]
THE STATE OF RAJASTHAN Appellant(s)
VERSUS
NARENDRA SINGH ETC. Respondent(s)
WITH
CRIMINAL APPEAL No. 1448 OF 2019
[Special Leave to Appeal (Crl.) No(s). 1126/2014]
O R D E R
Leave granted.
These appeals are directed against judgment of the High Court of Rajasthan delivered by the same Judge whereby in the concluding portion of the judgment, he has directed that it would be appropriate for the Government to give benefit of Section 433 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (for short ‘the CrPC’) to the convicts. These are cases where the respondents were convicted for committing offences punishable under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code (for short ‘the IPC’).
After having upheld the conviction, we are clearly of the view that it was not proper for the High Court to direct the State to exercise its power under Section 433, CrPC. Section 433, CrPC reads as follows:
“433. Power to commute sentence. The appropriate Government may, without the consent of the person sentenced, commute-
(a) a sentence of death, for any other punishment provided by the Indian Penal Code;Signature Not Verified
(b) a sentence of imprisonment for life, for imprisonment for a Digitally signed by MEENAKSHI KOHLI Date: 2019.09.25 term not exceeding fourteen years or for fine;
11:05:46 IST Reason:
(c) a sentence of rigorous imprisonment, for simple imprisonment for any term to which that person might have been sentenced, or for 1 fine;
(d) a sentence of simple imprisonment, for fine.” A bare perusal of the Section shows that the power of commutation is vested with the State Government. It was for the State Government to decide in what manner and in which case such power should be exercised.
The High Court cannot direct the State Government to exercise this power especially in matters of crime relating to Section 376, IPC. We, therefore, set aside the direction given to the State to give benefit under Section 433, CrPC. The criminal appeals are allowed.
We, however, make it clear that if the respondents are entitled to benefits of parole, remission or early release under any law, their cases shall be decided on merits uninfluenced by the judgment of this Court.
…....................J. [DEEPAK GUPTA] …....................J. [ANIRUDDHA BOSE] NEW DELHI;
September 17, 2019.
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ITEM NO.19 COURT NO.13 SECTION II
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.) No(s). 384-
385/2014
(Arising out of impugned final judgment and order dated 16-05-2013 in CRLA No. 247/2009 and CRMBA No. 67/2009 passed by the High Court Of Judicature For Rajasthan At Jaipur) THE STATE OF RAJASTHAN Petitioner(s) VERSUS NARENDRA SINGH ETC. Respondent(s) WITH SLP(Crl) No. 1126/2014 (II) ( FOR EXEMPTION FROM FILING O.T. ON IA 3017/2014) Date : 17-09-2019 These matters were called on for hearing today. CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE DEEPAK GUPTA HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ANIRUDDHA BOSE For Petitioner(s) Dr. Manish Singhvi, Adv.
Mr. Satyender Kumar, Adv.
Shailja Nanda Mishra, Adv.
For Mr. Milind Kumar, AOR For Respondent(s) Ms. Rukhsana Choudhury, AOR UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following O R D E R Leave granted.
The criminal appeals are allowed in terms of the signed order. Pending applications, if any, stand disposed of.
(MEENAKSHI KOHLI) (RENU KAPOOR) COURT MASTER COURT MASTER
[Signed order is placed on the file] 3