The single judge bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court held that opportunities of reformation must be granted and such discretion is to be exercised by evaluating all attending circumstances of each case by noticing the nature of the crime, the manner, in which the crime was committed and conduct of the accused to strike a balance between the efficacy of law and the chances of reformation of the accused.
Brief facts
The factual matrix of the case is that the complainant and her mother were going from their house to the bus stand and her father was present on a chowk then accused persons armed with weapons reached there and raised a lalkara to teach a lesson to Gulzar Singh for grabbing whole of the land. When the complainant and her mother came to his rescue and raised an alarm, the accused persons fled away from the spot along with their respective weapons by saying that they would see him again. Thereafter, the matter was reported to the police. The trial court convicted the appellant under Section 325 read with Section 34 of IPC. Aggrieved by this, the present appeal is filed.
Observations of the court
The Hon’ble Court observed that Opportunities for reformation must be given, and this discretion is to be used by assessing all relevant circumstances in each case, taking note of the type of crime, the way it was committed, and the accused's behavior in order to strike a balance between the effectiveness of the law and the accused's chances of reformation.
The court relied upon the judgments titled Deo Narain Mandal Vs. State of UP, and Ravada Sasikala Vs. State of AP.
The court noted that the trial lasted for about 31 years and appellants No.1 & 3 have grown into a law-abiding citizen and desire to live a peaceful life. Even as per their custody certificates, appellants No.1 & 3 are not involved in any other case and have undergone actual sentences more than 02 months in the instant case.
Based on these considerations, the court reduced the sentence awarded to the appellant to the period undergone.
The decision of the court
With the above direction, the court disposed of the appeal.
Case Title: Randhir Singh and others V. State of Punjab
Coram: Hon’ble Mr. Justice Harpreet Singh Brar
Case No.: CRA-S-1043-SB-1998 (O&M)
Advocates for the Appellant: Mr. Narinder Singh, Advocate, Mr. Aditya Vermani, Advocate
Advocate for the State: Mr. Subhash Godara
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