[ad_1]
NEW DELHI: Clarifying a grey area relating to suspension of sentence and grant of bail on appeal against conviction, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said the appellate courts cannot go into nitty gritty of evidence, or flimsy lacunae in prosecution, to release convicts on bail and suspend their sentence merely because disposal of appeal would take a long time.
Setting aside a Patna HC order suspending life sentence of three persons in a murder case and granting them bail, a bench of Justices M R Shah and J B Pardiwala said, “The principle underlying the theory of criminal jurisprudence in our country is that an accused is presumed to be innocent till he is held guilty. Once the accused is held guilty, the presumption of innocence gets erased. In the same manner, if the accused is acquitted, the presumption of innocence gets further fortified”.
Referring to earlier judgment which advised the courts to be extremely cautious in suspending sentence of a convict in heinous crime, the bench said while hearing an appeal, a court at the stage of Section 389 of CrPC must examine to arrive at a prima facie view whether the case presented by the prosecution and accepted by the trial court can be said to be a case in which, ultimately the convict stands fair chances of acquittal.
Writing the judgment, Justice Pardiwala said, “If the answer is to be in the affirmative, as a necessary corollary, we shall have to say that, he should not be kept behind the bars for a pretty long time till the conclusion of the appeal, which usually takes very long for decision and disposal”.
“However, while undertaking the exercise to ascertain whether the convict has fair chances of acquittal, what is to be looked into is something palpable. …Something which is very apparent or gross on the face of the record, on the basis of which, the court can arrive at a prima facie satisfaction that the conviction may not be sustainable. The appellate court should not reappreciate the evidence at the stage of Section 389 of the CrPC and try to pick up few lacunas or loopholes here or there in the case of the prosecution,” the bench said.
“In the case on hand, what the HC has done is something impermissible. It has gone into issues like political rivalry, delay in lodging the FIR, some over-writings in the FIR etc. All these aspects, will have to be looked into at the time of the final hearing of the appeals filed by the convicts. Upon cursory scanning of the evidence on record, we are unable to agree that, either there is absolutely no case against the convicts or that the evidence against them is so weak and feeble in nature, that, ultimately in all probabilities the proceedings would terminate in their favour,” the bench said and set aside the HC order.
Setting aside a Patna HC order suspending life sentence of three persons in a murder case and granting them bail, a bench of Justices M R Shah and J B Pardiwala said, “The principle underlying the theory of criminal jurisprudence in our country is that an accused is presumed to be innocent till he is held guilty. Once the accused is held guilty, the presumption of innocence gets erased. In the same manner, if the accused is acquitted, the presumption of innocence gets further fortified”.
Referring to earlier judgment which advised the courts to be extremely cautious in suspending sentence of a convict in heinous crime, the bench said while hearing an appeal, a court at the stage of Section 389 of CrPC must examine to arrive at a prima facie view whether the case presented by the prosecution and accepted by the trial court can be said to be a case in which, ultimately the convict stands fair chances of acquittal.
Writing the judgment, Justice Pardiwala said, “If the answer is to be in the affirmative, as a necessary corollary, we shall have to say that, he should not be kept behind the bars for a pretty long time till the conclusion of the appeal, which usually takes very long for decision and disposal”.
“However, while undertaking the exercise to ascertain whether the convict has fair chances of acquittal, what is to be looked into is something palpable. …Something which is very apparent or gross on the face of the record, on the basis of which, the court can arrive at a prima facie satisfaction that the conviction may not be sustainable. The appellate court should not reappreciate the evidence at the stage of Section 389 of the CrPC and try to pick up few lacunas or loopholes here or there in the case of the prosecution,” the bench said.
“In the case on hand, what the HC has done is something impermissible. It has gone into issues like political rivalry, delay in lodging the FIR, some over-writings in the FIR etc. All these aspects, will have to be looked into at the time of the final hearing of the appeals filed by the convicts. Upon cursory scanning of the evidence on record, we are unable to agree that, either there is absolutely no case against the convicts or that the evidence against them is so weak and feeble in nature, that, ultimately in all probabilities the proceedings would terminate in their favour,” the bench said and set aside the HC order.
#Supreme #Court #Courts #mustnt #pick #flimsy #lacunae #suspend #sentence #India #News
