Md. Hafizur Rahman vs The State Of Assam And Anr
2025 Latest Caselaw 1409 Gua

Gauhati High Court

Md. Hafizur Rahman vs The State Of Assam And Anr on 23 July, 2025

Author: Manish Choudhury

Bench: Manish Choudhury

                                                                            Page No.# 1/3

GAHC010264352023




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                              THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT
   (HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH)

                                Case No. : I.A.(Crl.)/1192/2023

            MD. HAFIZUR RAHMAN
            S/O MD. SAMAT ALI,
            VILL.- NO. 2 UDAIPUR GAON, P.S.- DEMOW, DIST.- SIVASAGAR, ASSAM,
            PIN- 785662.



            VERSUS

            THE STATE OF ASSAM AND ANR.
            REP. BY THE P.P., ASSAM.

            2:RUMI DAS
            W/O SRI JIVA DAS

            VILL.- NO. 2 UDAIPUR GAON
            P.S.- DEMOW
            DIST.- SIVASAGAR
            ASSAM
            PIN- 785662

Advocate for the Petitioner   : MR. T DEURI, MS A DAS,MR. D KONWAR

Advocate for the Respondent : PP, ASSAM,




             Linked Case :

            HAFIZUR RAHMAN
                                                                                    Page No.# 2/3


              VERSUS

             THE STATE OF ASSAM AND ANR. E



             ------------
             Advocate for : MR. T DEURI
             Advocate for : appearing for THE STATE OF ASSAM AND ANR. E



                                    BEFORE
                   HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MANISH CHOUDHURY

                                            ORDER

Date : 23.07.2025

Heard Ms. A. Das, learned counsel for the applicant-appellant and Mr. M.P. Goswami, learned Additional Public Prosecutor for the opposite party-respondent no. 1, State of Assam.

2. The instant application under Section 5 of the Limitation Act, 1963 is preferred seeking condonation of delay of 364 days, which period of delay has occurred in filing the accompanying criminal appeal under Section 374 [2] of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

3. The applicant as the appellant has preferred the accompanying criminal appeal to assail a Judgment and Order dated 22.09.2022 passed by the Court of learned Additional Sessions Judge - cum - Special Judge POCSO, Sivasagar ['the Special Court', for short] in Special [POCSO] Case no. 50 of 2021. By the Judgment and Order dated 22.09.2022, the applicant-appellant has been convicted for the offence under Section 10, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences [POCSO] Act, 2012 and he has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 5 [five] years and to pay a fine of Rs. 5,000/-, in default of payment of fine, to undergo rigorous imprisonment for another three months.

4. I have gone through the statements and averments made in the application.

5. Having regard to the statements and averments made in this application, this Court is Page No.# 3/3

of the considered view that the applicant-appellant has been able to explain the circumstances showing sufficient cause for which the delay of 364 days had occurred in preferring the accompanying criminal appeal.

6. Furthermore, it is noticed that prior to the Judgment and Order dated 22.09.2022, the applicant-appellant had spent a period of three months and nine days in custody, which is to be set-off under Section 428, CrPC. The applicant-appellant is presently serving the sentence since the Judgment and Order dated 22.09.2022, meaning thereby, he has served a period two years and nine months after being convicted. The total period the applicant-appellant has spent in custody is more than three years, as on date.

7. As the applicant-appellant has spent more than three years in incarceration, interest of justice would also be better sub-served if the accompanying criminal appeal is heard on merits after condoning the period of delay.

8. For the afore-state reasons, the instant interlocutory application stands allowed.

9. The Registry to register the accompanying criminal appeal and, thereafter, to list the same for admission expeditiously.

JUDGE

Comparing Assistant