Wahed Ali vs Central Bureau Of Investigation
2025 Latest Caselaw 507 Gua

Gauhati High Court

Wahed Ali vs Central Bureau Of Investigation on 14 May, 2025

Author: Parthivjyoti Saikia

Bench: Parthivjyoti Saikia

                                                                        Page No.# 1/4

GAHC010071492025




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

                                 Case No. : I.A.(Crl.)/322/2025

            WAHED ALI
            S/O. LT. MOFIZUDDIN AHMED, R/O. DHIRENPARA, ITABHATA, P/S. FATASIL
            AMBARI, DIST. KAMRUP (M), ASSAM.



            VERSUS

            CENTRAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
            REP BY STANDING COUNSEL, CBI ASSAM



Advocate for the Petitioner   : MR. N MAHAJAN, MR. A CHAUDHURY,MR. P K DAS,MR. D
BORA

Advocate for the Respondent : DY.S.G.I.,




             Linked Case : Crl.A./109/2025

            WAHED ALI
            S/O. LT. MOFIZUDDIN AHMED
            R/O. DHIRENPARA
            ITABHATA
            P/S. FATASIL AMBARI
            DIST. KAMRUP (M)
            ASSAM.


             VERSUS
                                                                                  Page No.# 2/4


            CENTRAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
            REP. BY STANDING COUNSEL
            CBI ASSAM


            ------------
            Advocate for : MR. N MAHAJAN
            Advocate for : DY.S.G.I. appearing for CENTRAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION



                                   BEFORE
                  HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE PARTHIVJYOTI SAIKIA

                                          ORDER

Date : 14.05.2025

Heard Mr. B. K. Mahajan, learned counsel appearing for the applicant. Also heard Ms. M. Kumari, learned counsel for CBI.

2. The application has been filed under Section 430 (1) (3) of The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, praying for suspension of sentence imposed upon the applicant Wahed Ali by the learned Special Judge (Additional Court No.3), CBI, in Special Case No. 9/2004. The applicant is convicted under Section 420/468/471/477(A) of the Indian Penal Code and under the provision of P.C. Act.

3. The petitioner submits that he has attended the trial for the last 20 (twenty) years without making any defaults in appears. He is now 69 years old.

4. Mr. Mahajan, has relied upon some judgments of the Hon'ble Supreme Court. The first Judgment relied upon by Mr. Mahajan is Kiran Kumar Versus State of M.P. reported in (2001) 9 SCC 211 paragraph 3 of this judgment is quoted as under:

"This Court has held in Bhagwan Rama Shinde Gosai v. State of Gujarat that when a person is convicted and sentenced to a short-term imprisonment the normal rule is that when his appeal is pending the sentence should be suspended and rejection is only by way of exception and be put forward for such rejection. In such case also every endeavor should be made to have the Page No.# 3/4

appeal posted for early hearing and disposal. If the short-term sentence is allowed to run out during the pendency of the appeal, the appeal itself will become, for all practical purpose, infructuous so far as the appellant is concerned. It does not mean that the appellate court should suspend the sentence, if its consequence would be a danger to the society or any other similar difficulties."

5. Mr. Mahajan, further relied upon Atul alias Asutosh Versus State of Madhya Pradesh, reported in (2024) 3 SCC 663, paragraph 4 of the said judgment is quoted as under:

"Before parting with order, we must note here that notwithstanding several decisions of this Court holding that when there is a fixed term sentence and especially when the appeal is not likely to be heard before completing entire period of sentence, normally suspension of sentence and bail should be granted, we find that in several deserving cases, bail is being denied. Such cases should never be required to be brought before this Court."

6. Mr. Mahajan, has relied upon another judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court that was delivered in Bhagwan Rama Shinde Gosai and Others Versus State of Gujarat, reported in (1999) 4 SCC 421, paragraph 3 of the said judgment is quoted as under:

" When a convicted person is sentenced to a fixed period of sentence and when he files an appeal under any statutory right, suspension of sentence can be considered by the appellate court liberally unless there are exceptional circumstances. Of course, if there is any statutory restriction against suspension of sentence it is a different matter. Similarly, when the sentence is life imprisonment the consideration for suspension of sentence could be of a different approach. But if for any reason the sentence of a limited duration cannot be suspended every endeavour should be made to dispose of the appeal on merits more so when a motion for expeditious hearing of the appeal is made in such cases. Otherwise the very valuable right of appeal would be an Page No.# 4/4

exercise in futility by efflux of time. When the appellate court finds that due to practical reasons such appeals cannot be disposed of expeditiously the appellate court must bestow special concern in the matter of suspending the sentence so as to make the appeal right, meaningful and effective. Of course, appellate courts can impose similar conditions when bail is granted."

7. Mr. Mahajan has submitted in the case of fixed period of imprisonment, the Court should be liberally in entertaining the bail prayer.

8. Ms. Kumari has objected to this application on the ground that the petitioner had embezzlement huge amount of money from the High Court. According to Ms. Kumari, if the petitioner is allowed to bail, it would send a bad message to the society.

9. I have considered the submissions made by the learned counsels, under the given circumstances, this Court is of the opinion that the prayer made by the petitioner desires to be accepted. Therefore, the sentence imposed upon the applicant by the Special Judge (Additional Court No. 3) CBI in Special Case No. 09/2024, shall remain suspended till disposal of the connected appeal.

10. The applicant Wahed Ali is allowed to go on bail of Rs. 25,000/- with a surety of like amount to the satisfaction of the learned Special Judge (Additional Court No.3) CBI, Guwahati.

11. This interlocutory application is disposed of.

JUDGE

Comparing Assistant