Supreme Court - Daily Orders
The State Of Himachal Pradesh vs Guddu Ram on 11 March, 2022
Bench: D.Y. Chandrachud, Surya Kant
Crl.A.401/2022
1
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
Criminal Appeal No 401 of 2022
(Arising out of SLP (Crl) No 1948 of 2015)
State of Himachal Pradesh Appellant
Versus
Guddu Ram Respondent
ORDER
1 Leave granted.
2 On 1 August 2008, the Special Judge (II), Mandi convicted the appellant in Sessions Trial No 7 of 2007 of an offence punishable under Section 20 of the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act 1985 and sentenced the appellant to suffer rigorous imprisonment for ten years and to pay a fine of Rs 1 lakh with a default sentence.
3 The High Court by its judgment dated 26 June 2014 reversed the conviction in Criminal Appeal No 235 of 2009.
Signature Not Verified Digitally signed by Chetan Kumar Date: 2022.03.15 18:09:42 IST Reason: Crl.A.401/2022 2 4 Notice was issued in these proceedings on 27 February 2015. The State of Himachal Pradesh has appeared through Ms Arti Bansal, counsel while Dr J P Dhanda, counsel appears for the respondent. 5 Having carefully assessed the reasons which have been indicated in the impugned judgment of the Division Bench of the High Court of Himachal Pradesh, we are of the view that the High Court has not appreciated the entirety of the evidence in an appropriate manner. In the circumstances, we set aside the impugned judgment and order of the High Court and remand the proceedings back to the High Court for fresh consideration of Criminal Appeal No 235 of 2009.
6 We clarify that the present order shall not be construed as any expression of opinion on the merits of the conviction which has been recorded by the Special Judge. All the rights and contentions of the parties in Criminal Appeal No 235 of 2009 are kept open. On remand, we request the Division Bench of the High Court to dispose of the criminal appeal preferably within a period of three months. Should the appellant be required to be provided legal aid, the High Court is requested to provide necessary assistance in that regard. 7 Since the order of acquittal was passed on 26 June 2014, and the appellant has remained at liberty since then, we order and direct that pending the disposal of the appeal, the appellant shall be enlarged on bail subject to such terms and conditions as may be imposed by the Special Judge (II), Mandi in Crl.A.401/2022 3 Sessions Trial No 7 of 2007.
8 The appeal is disposed of in the above terms. 9 Pending applications, if any, stand disposed of.
.......…...….......………………........J. [Dr Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud] .…....…........……………….…........J. [Surya Kant] New Delhi;
March 11, 2022
CKB
Crl.A.401/2022
4
ITEM NO.20 Court 4 (Video Conferencing) SECTION II-C
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.1948/2015 (Arising out of impugned final judgment and order dated 26-06-2014 in CRLA No.235/2009 passed by the High Court of Himachal Pradesh at Shimla) THE STATE OF HIMACHAL PRADESH Petitioner(s) VERSUS GUDDU RAM Respondent(s) (WITH INTERIM RELIEF) Date : 11-03-2022 This petition was called on for hearing today. CORAM :
HON'BLE DR. JUSTICE D.Y. CHANDRACHUD HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SURYA KANT For Petitioner(s) Ms. N. Annapoorani, AOR For Respondent(s) Dr. J.P. Dhanda, AOR Ms. Raj Rani Dhanda, Adv. Mr. Vineet Dhanda, Adv.
Mr. Gopi Chand, Adv.
UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following O R D E R 1 Leave granted.Crl.A.401/2022 5
2 The appeal is disposed of in terms of the signed order.
3 Pending applications, if any, stand disposed of.
(CHETAN KUMAR) (SAROJ KUMARI GAUR)
A.R.-cum-P.S. Court Master
(Signed order is placed on the file)