The single judge bench of Justice Anil Kumar Sinha of the Patna High Court in the case of Shivjag Paswan vs. the state of Bihar held that the District Appellate Court cannot grant bail after disposal of appeal by affirming the judgment of conviction and order of sentence.
Brief Facts:
The factual matrix of the case is that the judgment of conviction and order of sentence passed by the sub-divisional judicial magistrate was confirmed by the learned additional session judge. The present revision application was filed by the Petitioner against the judgment and it was admitted that the petitioners have not surrendered after affirmance of judgment of conviction and order of sentence by the District Appellate Court.
Contentions of the Petitioner:
The learned counsel appearing on behalf of the Petitioner submitted that the learned district appellate court transferred the records to the sub-divisional judicial magistrate and the Petitioner was granted provisional bail for 90 days to enable them to approach the court while exercising their revisional jurisdiction. It was furthermore submitted that even though the ninety-day period for provisional bail has passed, the petitioners are not obligated to surrender because the trial court granted them provisional bail so they might appeal to this Court under its revisional jurisdiction.
Contentions of the Informant:
The learned counsel appearing on behalf of the informant submitted that neither the trial court nor the Appellate court can grant bail when the order of sentence was affirmed.
Observations of the Court:
The Hon’ble Court observed that the trial court may use its power under Section 389(3) if it is convinced that the convicted person intends to appeal against conviction and punishment. In the present case, no other provision was placed before the court under which the trial court can suspend the sentence and grant bail after the judgment of conviction and order of sentence passed by the trial court was affirmed by the District appellate court and the records have been sent back to the trial court.
It was furthermore observed that after the District Appellate Court has upheld the trial court's judgment of conviction and order of sentence, the trial court is not permitted to grant bail to the accused person.
It was noted that after an appeal has been decided and a conviction and sentence have been confirmed, there is no provision in the CrPC for the District Appellate Court to grant bail so that the appellant or convict can file a revision application with the High Court and get the required instructions.
The court relied upon the judgments titled Ikbal Chandulal Shaikh v. The State of Maharashtra, Dilip S/O Ramchandra Umare v. State of Maharashtra, and Krishna Kumar Jain v. State of Punjab.
It was furthermore noted that once the district appellate court affirmed the order of sentence and conviction passed by the trial court, it becomes functus officio and then, there exists no power to suspend the sentence or grant bail so that the accused can approach the High Court and file a revision application to obtain the proper orders.
Based on these considerations, the court directed the Petition to surrender before the court.
The decision of the court:
With the above direction, the court dismissed the revision application.
Case Title: Shivjag Paswan Vs The State of Bihar
Coram: Hon’ble Mr. Justice Anil Kumar Sinha
Case No.: Criminal Revision No. 176 of 2023
Advocate for the Petitioner: Mr. Chhote Lal Mishra, Advocate
Advocate for the Respondent: Mr. Akshay Lal Pandit, APP
Advocate for the Informant: Mr. Vikram Deo Singh, Advocate
Read Judgment @Latestlaws.com
Picture Source :
