Bombay High Court
Paritosh Tarapad Poddar And ... vs State Of Mah. Thr. P.S.O. P.S. ... on 26 August, 2022
Bench: V. G. Joshi
1
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY
NAGPUR BENCH, NAGPUR.
CRIMINAL WRIT PETITION NO. 501 OF 2022
1. Paritosh Tarapad Poddar, aged 34 years,
occ. Tailoring, R/o M.V. 16, Tah. & Distt.
Malkangiri, (Orissa State)
2. Haridas Harivila Biswas, aged 29 years,
Occ. Education, R/o M.V. 16, Tah. &
Dist. Malkangiri, (Orissa State)
... PETITIONER
VERSUS
State of Maharashtra, through P.S.O.,
P.S. Gadchiroli, Tah. & Dist.
Gadchiroli.
... RESPONDENT
_____________________________________________________________
Mrs. Maira Ateeb, Advocate for the petitioners.
Shri H.D. Dubey, A.P.P. for the respondent.
______________________________________________________________
CORAM : VINAY JOSHI, J.
DATED. : 26.08.2022.
ORAL JUDGMENT :
RULE. Rule is made returnable forthwith.
2. Heard finally by consent of both the learned Counsel
appearing for the parties.
3. The petitioners have been convicted by the Trial Court in
R.C.C. No.21 of 2018 for the offence punishable under Sections 420,
468, 471 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code and Section
66(c) of the Information Technology Act. The Trial Court has imposed
separate punishment for each offence, out of which the maximum
sentence is imposed for the offence punishable under Section 420 of
the Indian Penal Code to suffer rigorous imprisonment for six years
with certain amount of fine. The Trial Court directed that all
substantive sentences shall run concurrently. The total fine imposed
under different counts is of Rs.80,000/-.
4. Being aggrieved and dissatisfied by the order of conviction,
the petitioners have filed Criminal Appeal No.21 of 2020 challenging
the order of conviction. In said appeal the petitioners have filed an
application seeking suspension of execution of sentence in terms of
Section 389(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, however the
Appellate Court has declined to suspend the execution of substantive
sentence.
5. Being dissatisfied by the said order, the petitioners have
applied to this Court. It is the petitioners' contention that they have
good case on merit. The Trial Court has not appreciated the evidence in
proper perspective, which resulted into passing an order of conviction.
Besides that, it has been argued that both petitioners are under trial
prisoners and they are in jail from 30.08.2018 and 26.02.2018
respectively, meaning thereby they have already suffered punishment
more than one and half of the term, which has been imposed.
6. The State resisted the petition by contending that both
petitioners are resident of other State and if they are release on bail,
there are high chances of abscondance and they may not be available
for the hearing of the appeal.
7. Perused the impugned judgment and the nature of evidence
laid by the prosecution. The petitioners have already deposited entire
fine amount of which photocopy of receipts have been tendered. The
maximum sentence of imprisonment is for six years. The calculation
shows that the petitioners are under trial prisoners and up-till now,
they are in jail for the period of four years and six months. To my mind,
this itself is a sufficient reason for suspension, because if ultimately the
petitioner succeeds in appeal, then irreversible position may occur. As
regards to the objection that the petitioners are hailing from State of
Orissa, the care can be taken by imposing certain conditions.
8. In view of above, the petition is allowed. The Impugned
order dated 22.12.2020 passed by the Additional Sessions Judge,
Gadchiroli in Criminal Appeal No.21 of 2020 is hereby quashed and set
aside. Execution of substantive sentence stands suspended till the final
disposal of the appeal on petitioners' furnishing solvent surety to the
tune of Rs.1,00,000/- each to the satisfaction of the Trial Court.
9. The Trial Court shall issue the release warrant only after
ensuring that the entire fine amount, has been deposited.
10. The petition stands disposed of in above terms.
(VINAY JOSHI, J.)
Trupti
TRUPTI SANTOSHJI AGRAWAL
30.08.2022 16:46
