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Citation Codes
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Case Number
Disposition

NA

Attorney(S)
  • Aseem Mehrotra and Yash Pal Dhingra, Advocates, for the Appellants;
  • Ms Hemantika Wahi and Ms Farah Sultana, Advocates, for the Respondent.
Judges
  • Justice K.T. Thomas
Acts
  • Section 5, Subsection 2 of the 1983 Income Tax Act
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Cites
Cited by
Citation Codes
Equivalent Citations
citation codes
Case Number
Disposition

NA

Attorney(S)
  • Aseem Mehrotra and Yash Pal Dhingra, Advocates, for the Appellants;
  • Ms Hemantika Wahi and Ms Farah Sultana, Advocates, for the Respondent.
Judges
  • Justice K.T. Thomas
Acts
  • Section 5, Subsection 2 of the 1983 Income Tax Act
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Smart Summary

Factual and Procedural Background

The appellants were convicted by the trial court for the offence under Section 392 read with Section 397 of the Indian Penal Code and each was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for ten years. They appealed to the High Court of Gujarat and sought suspension of their sentence, which was refused. A subsequent application for suspension met the same fate. Their request for an expedited hearing was also declined on the ground that older appeals were pending. The present proceedings arise from their approach to the higher court after these refusals.

Legal Issues Presented

  1. Whether, when an appeal against a fixed-term sentence cannot be heard expeditiously, the sentence should be suspended and the appellants enlarged on bail pending disposal of the appeal.

Arguments of the Parties

The opinion does not contain a detailed account of the parties' legal arguments.

Table of Precedents Cited

No precedents were cited in the provided opinion.

Court's Reasoning and Analysis

The court emphasized that an appellate court should consider suspension of sentence liberally for convicts serving a fixed-term sentence, unless exceptional circumstances or statutory bars exist. It contrasted this with cases of life imprisonment, where different considerations apply. The court highlighted that denying both suspension of sentence and an expedited hearing risks rendering the statutory right of appeal meaningless. Observing that the High Court was not prepared to hear the appeal promptly, the court concluded that suspension of the sentence—subject to stringent conditions—was necessary to preserve the efficacy of the appellants’ appeal rights.

Holding and Implications

Sentence Suspended; Bail Granted with Conditions: The appellants are to be released on bail upon each executing a bond to the satisfaction of the Additional Sessions Judge, Nadiad, and are required to report to Kapadwang Police Station every Monday and Thursday between 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. until their appeal before the High Court is decided. The present appeal is disposed of in these terms.

Consequently, the appellants obtain interim liberty while their appeal is pending. The decision reiterates that appellate courts must either expedite hearings in fixed-term sentence cases or seriously consider suspending the sentence; otherwise, the right of appeal may be rendered illusory. No new precedent was expressly established beyond this reaffirmation.

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    Bhagwan Rama Shinde Gosai And Others v. State Of Gujarat .

    1. Leave granted.

    2. This is a case where the appellants have been convicted by the trial court of the offence under Section 392 read with Section 397 and each of them was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for 10 years. They filed an appeal before the High Court of Gujarat and moved for suspension of sentence, but that was not allowed. At a later stage they again moved for suspension of sentence and that too was dismissed by the impugned order. Unfortunately, when they made a motion for having their appeal expedited that also was declined by the High Court on the premise that the High Court is having older appeals on the board.

    3. When a convicted person is sentenced to a fixed period of sentence and when he files an appeal under any statutory right, suspension of sentence can be considered by the appellate court liberally unless there are exceptional circumstances. Of course, if there is any statutory restriction against suspension of sentence it is a different matter. Similarly, when the sentence is life imprisonment the consideration for suspension of sentence could be of a different approach. But if for any reason the sentence of a limited duration cannot be suspended every endeavour should be made to dispose of the appeal on merits more so when a motion for expeditious hearing of the appeal is made in such cases. Otherwise the very valuable right of appeal would be an exercise in futility by efflux of time. When the appellate court finds that due to practical reasons such appeals cannot be disposed of expeditiously the appellate court must bestow special concern in the matter of suspending the sentence so as to make the appeal right, meaningful and effective. Of course, appellate courts can impose similar conditions when bail is granted.

    4. In this case as the High Court was not inclined to hear the appeal expeditiously we are of the view that the sentence passed on the appellants can be suspended on some stringent conditions. We, therefore, suspend the sentence and direct the appellants to be released on bail on each of them executing a bond to the satisfaction of the Additional Sessions Judge, Nadiad. We direct the appellants to report to Kapadwang Police Station on all Mondays and Thursdays between 4.00 p.m and 6.00 p.m until disposal of the appeal pending before the High Court.

    5. This appeal is disposed of in the above terms.

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    Comments

    Bhagwan Rama Shinde Gosai And Others v. State Of Gujarat .
    (May 12, 1999)