Rajasthan High Court - Jodhpur

Man Singh @ Pikda vs State Of Rajasthan ... on 28 August, 2025

Author: Vinit Kumar Mathur

Bench: Vinit Kumar Mathur

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      HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE FOR RAJASTHAN AT
                       JODHPUR
     D.B. Criminal Misc II Suspension Of Sentence Application
                     (Appeal) No. 1484/2025
Man Singh @ Pikda S/o Jagannath Rawat, Aged About 44 Years,
R/o Heenta, P.s. Bhinder, District Udaipur.
          (At Present Lodged At Central Jail Udaipur)
                                                                       ----Petitioner
                                       Versus
State Of Rajasthan, Through The Public Prosecutor.
                                                                     ----Respondent


For Petitioner(s)            :     Mr. Manish Kumar Pitaliya
For Respondent(s)            :     Mr. Chandra Shekhar Ojha, PP


        HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE VINIT KUMAR MATHUR

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ANUROOP SINGHI Order 28/08/2025

1. The appellant-applicant herein has been convicted and

sentenced as below vide judgment dated 21.06.2018 passed by

the learned Additional Sessions Judge No.1, Nimbaheda, District

Chittorgarh, in Sessions Case No.46/2015:

     Offence               Sentence                                 Fine
302 IPC             Life Imprisonment Rs.10,000/- and in default of
                                      which to further undergo one
                                      month's S.I.

2. The appellant-applicant has preferred the application for

suspension of sentence under Section 430 of BNSS during the

pendency of the appeal and for release on bail. Earlier application

seeking suspension of sentence was dismissed on 25.02.2019.

3. The only plea raised by learned counsel for the appellant-

applicant is that as the applicant is in custody for more than 10

years and there is no chance of hearing of the appeal in near

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future, thus, in view of the directions of the Hon'ble Supreme

Court dated 15.09.2022 in Sonadhar v. The State of

Chhattisgarh : SLP (Crl.) No.529/2021, the sentence of the

applicant be suspended and he be enlarged on bail.

4. Further submissions have been made that there are no

reasons and / or extenuating circumstances for denial of bail.

Submissions have also been made with reference to order dated

05.10.2021 in Saudan Singh v. The State of Uttar Pradesh :

SLP (Crl.) No.4633/2021, wherein also observations have been

made regarding grant of bail in the appeal at the High Court stage

except certain exceptions and that none of the exceptions are

applicable in the present case.

5. Learned Public Prosecutor opposed the application for

suspension of sentence. However, he has not denied that the

appellant-applicant has already undergone sentence of more than

10 years during trial and after sentence.

6. We have considered the submissions made by learned

counsel for the parties and have perused the material available on

record.

7. Looking to the fact that criminal appeals pertaining to year

2008 are pending for hearing, there is no likelihood of hearing of

the present appeal in near future.

8. The Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Sonadhar (supra),

while dealing with SMW (Crl.) No.4/2021 pertaining to 'life

convicts in jail whose appeals are pending before the High Court'

inter-alia, issued the following directions :-

"We consider appropriate to issue directions in terms of the aforesaid suggestions to the Patna High Court and on a pari materia basis to even the other High Courts. However, in order to carry out this exercise, the data

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would have to be compiled of such of the persons who have been in custody for more than 10 years and more than 14 years, with these persons being considered for grant of bail pending appeal, if there is no chance of hearing of the appeal in the near future, unless there are reasons for denial of bail. We can understand if any of the parties is delaying the appeal itself but short of that, we are of the view that all persons who have completed 10 years of sentence and appeal is not in proximity of hearing with no extenuating circumstances should be enlarged on bail."

9. Prior to that in the case of Saudan Singh (supra) also

observations were made regarding grant of bail in cases where

convicts have undergone sentence for sufficiently long time and

appeals were pending at the High Court stage with exceptions

indicated therein.

10. In the present case as observed herein-before, the appellant-

applicant has already undergone sentence for more than 10 years

and apparently, there are no chances of hearing of the present

appeal in near future. Except for the fact that the appellant-

applicant was involved in offence leading to his conviction for life,

nothing has been brought on record by way of extenuating

circumstances for denial of suspension of sentence.

11. Consequently, following the order in the case of Sonadhar

(supra) and observations made in Saudan Singh (supra), without

making any observations on merits of the case and only on

account of the fact that more than 10 years' sentence has already

been undergone by the appellant-applicant, we are inclined to

suspend the substantive sentence of the appellant-applicant,

namely, Man Singh @ Pikda S/o Jagannath Rawat, during the

pendency of the appeal.

12. Accordingly, the instant application for suspension of

sentence filed under Section 430 of BNSS is allowed and it is

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ordered that substantive sentence passed by learned Additional

Sessions Judge No.1, Nimbaheda, District Chittorgarh, in Session

Case No.46/2015 against the appellant-applicant, namely, Man

Singh @ Pikda S/o Jagannath Rawat, shall remain suspended

till final disposal of the aforesaid appeal and he shall be released

on bail, provided he executes a personal bond in the sum of

Rs.50,000/- each with two sureties of Rs.25,000/- each to the

satisfaction of learned trial Judge for his appearance in this court

on 03.10.2025 and whenever ordered to do so till the disposal of

the appeal on the conditions indicated below:

1. That he will appear before the trial court in the month of January of every year till the appeal is decided.

2. That if the applicant change the place of residence, he will give in writing his changed address to the trial Court as well as to the counsel in the High Court.