Joginder
Singh Vs. State of Punjab & Ors [2001] Insc 471 (11 September 2001)
U.C.
Banerjee & N. Santosh Hegde Santosh Hegde, J.
Leave
granted.
Respondent
Nos.3 to 5 in these appeals (hereinafter to be referred to as the said
respondents) along with one Rachhpal Singh, their father, were convicted by the
Chief Judicial Magistrate, 1st Class, Nabha on 13.8.1987 for offences
punishable under Sections 326, 325, 324 read with Section 34 IPC. On an appeal
filed against the said judgment and conviction, the learned Sessions Judge, Patiala, confirmed the convictions as
against respondent Nos.3 to 5 and allowed the appeal of Rachhpal Singh and
acquitted him of the charges alleged against him. Against the said judgment of
the appellate court, the said respondents filed a revision petition before the
High Court of Punjab & Haryana at Chandigarh and the learned Single Judge who heard the revision petition, dismissed
the same on 17.7.1998 upholding the conviction and sentence awarded to the said
respondents.
It is
of importance to note that during the period of trial ending with confirmation
of conviction in the revision petition by the High Court, respondents 3 to 5
almost all the time were on bail except for a period of about 2 months and 25
days when they were in jail, serving part of their sentence.
On the
dismissal of the revision petition by the High Court, it is stated that the
said respondents surrendered before the Superintendent, Central Jail, Patiala, on 29.7.1998 and on the very same
day they were released by the jail authorities.
The
appellant herein who was the complainant in the original criminal case on
coming to know of the release of the said respondents, filed an application
before the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Patiala, (for short the CJM)
contending that the said respondents who had been awarded RI for one year and
six months did not undergo the actual sentence and that they had been released
by the jail authorities fraudulently because of their influence. The learned
CJM on the basis of the said application called for a report from the
Superintendent of the Central Jail, Patiala, respondent No.2 herein, to assign
reasons whey the said respondents have been released on the very day on which
they surrendered to serve their sentence. In reply to the said query of the
Court, the Superintendent, Central Jail, Patiala vide his letter dated
18.9.1998 informed the Court that the said respondents had been released from
jail by virtue of the benefit given to them by the Punjab Government regarding
their remission of sentence as per the notifications issued from time to time
between the period 13.7.1988 and 29.7.1998. The learned CJM accepting the said
report closed the petition of the appellant.
Being
aggrieved by the said closure of their petition, the appellant moved the Punjab
& Haryana High Court by way of a criminal miscellaneous petition praying
that the letter dated 18.9.1998 written by respondent No.2 wherein the said
respondents were given the benefit of remission be quashed and that the said
respondents be taken into custody for undergoing the remaining period of
sentence. A learned Single Judge of the High Court as per his order dated
9.12.1999 after hearing the parties came to the conclusion that the said
respondents were entitled to the remission given by the Government under
various notifications issued by it during the period from 13.7.1988 to
29.7.1998. According to the learned Judge, if the periods of remission granted
under various notifications are to be taken into consideration cumulatively then
the said period would cover the period of sentence awarded to the said
respondents and even though they had not in fact served the sentence by virtue
of the fact that they were enlarged on bail, they would be deemed to have
served the sentence. Hence, on that basis the criminal petition came to be
dismissed. It is against that judgment of the High Court of Punjab & Haryana
dated 9.12.1999 made in Criminal Miscellaneous Petition No.32414-M/98 that
these appeals are preferred. On behalf of the appellant, it is argued by Mr.
Rajesh Kumar Sharma, learned counsel that the court erred in interpreting the
various notifications of remission issued by the State Government to mean that
the remission so granted under the notifications is applicable to persons who are
on bail and who have not served the sentence and has also erred in construing
the various applications as giving the benefit cumulatively. According to him,
an interpretation of this nature could render the punishments awarded in
criminal cases nugatory. In support of his judgment, he also relied upon the
judgments of this Court in State of Haryana & Ors. v. Mohinder Singh [2000
3 SCC 394], Sunil Fulchand Shah v. Union
of India & Ors. [2000 3 SCC 409], State of Haryana v. Nauratta Singh &
Ors. [2000 3 SCC 514] and Satpal & Anr. v. State of Haryana & Ors. [2000 5 SCC 170].
Defending
the judgment of the High Court on behalf of the said respondents, Mr. Harbans Lal,
learned senior counsel representing them contended that the High Court was
correct in interpreting the notifications issued by the State Government
remitting the sentences as giving benefit to the persons who are on bail also
and the said benefit given under various notifications can be counted
cumulatively for the purpose find out whether the period covered by them if
taken cumulatively extinguishes the period of sentence imposed on the said
respondents.
In our
opinion, it would be appropriate for us to reproduce the argument of the
learned counsel in the manner in which it was presented before us which is as follows
:
According
to the learned counsel for the said respondents, the Government of Punjab has
issued 7 notifications between the period from 13.7.1988 to 29.7.1998 and as
per these notifications the following remissions were given :
As per
the notification dt. 11.11.89, the said respondents would get a remission of 4
months As per the notification dt. 5.4.92, the said respondents would get
remission of 4 months As per the notification dt. 27.1.94, the Said respondents
would get remission of 4 months As per notification dt. 6.3.95, the said
respondents would get remission of 1 ½ months As per notification dt. 18.12.96,
the said respondents would get remission of 3 months As per notification dt.
14.2.97, the respondents would get remission for the entire unexpired period up
to 1 year As per notification dt. 14.8.97, the respondents would get remission
of 1 month Therefore, according to the argument of the learned counsel, even
without taking into consideration the notification dated 14.2.1997, the said
respondents would be entitled to a total remission of 17 ½ months. Therefore,
the said respondents even though have served just 2 months and 25 days and were
on bail rest of the period in view of the various notifications referred to
hereinabove, it is deemed that they have served their entire period of
conviction which is only for a period of 18 months [1 ½ years]. So far as the 4
judgments referred to by the learned counsel for the appellant are concerned,
it is contended on behalf of the said respondents that the notifications
concerned in those judgments are not similar to the notification applicable to
the present case. In 3 out of the 4 cases referred to hereinabove, the
notifications were issued by the State Government of Haryana and in the said
notifications, there is no reference to the periods covered by the order of
bail and it is confined only to parole/furlough whereas, according to the
learned counsel, in the notification issued by the State Government of Punjab,
the word bail is specifically included along with the words parole and
furlough. Therefore, the notification issued by the Punjab Government grants
remission even to persons who are on bail irrespective of the actual period of
sentence served by them. Therefore, the judgments cited by the appellant are
distinguishable.
With
respect, we are unable to agree with the learned counsel for the said
respondents. In other words, acceptance of this argument, in our opinion, would
reduce the criminal justice system to mockery as has been said by this Court in
Nauratta Singhs case (supra). In the cases cited by the appellant, this Court
has categorically held that there is substantial difference between the words
parole and furlough on one hand and the expression bail on the other. These judgments
have also held that persons who are enlarged on bail cannot claim the benefit
of the period during which they were on bail for the purpose of counting the
period of sentence already undergone to apply the remission given by the
Government. In view of this clear enunciation of law, in our opinion, even by
the inclusion of the word bail in the notification of the Punjab Government an
accused who has always remained on bail or has not served the substantial part
of his sentence cannot take advantage of the remission notification.
In the
case of Nauratta Singh (supra) which has considered the judgment of Mohinder
Singh (supra) as well as that by the Constitution Bench in Sunil Fulchand Shah
(supra) and held thus :
18.
The clear fallacy of the approach made by the High Court can be demonstrated
through an illustration. An accused was tried for an offence under Section 326
IPC.
During
trial period he was allowed to remain on bail and the trial prolonged up to,
say, 3 years. Finally the court convicted him and sentenced him to imprisonment
for three years. Should not the convicted person go to jail at all on the
premise that he was on bail for three years and is hence entitled to remission
of that period ?
19.
Yet another illustration can be shown by stretching the above illustration a
little farther. If the aforesaid convicted person filed an appeal and got his
sentence suspended by the appellate court and the appellate court confirmed the
conviction and sentence after a period of 3 years, is he entitled to claim that
he need not go to jail at all as he was on bail for more than 3 years during
the post-conviction stage also? If it is to be held that he is entitled to such
remission, we are afraid, the criminal justice system would be reduced to a
mockery. The absurdity of the claim of the respondent can thus be demonstrated.
It is
clear from the above observations of this Court that grant of any such
remission would indeed reduce the criminal justice system to mockery.
Therefore, we cannot be persuaded to interpret the remission notification of
the Punjab Government to run counter to the judgment of this Court referred to
hereinabove.
In Mohinder
Singh (supra) which is followed by the Constitution Bench in Sunil Fulchand
Shah (supra), this Court held:
14.
Parole is defined in Blacks Law Dictionary as a conditional release of a
prisoner, generally under supervision of a parole officer, who has served part
of the term for which he was sentenced to prison.
Parole
relates to executive action taken after the door has been closed on a convict.
During
parole period there is no suspension of sentence but the sentence is actually
continuing to run during that period also.
In
view of the pronouncement of this Court also, we are of the opinion that the
High Court fell in error in accepting the argument of the said respondents that
they are entitled for the benefit of the period of remission given by the
various notifications cumulatively to be counted against the period during
which they were on bail. In our opinion, while applying the period of remission
granted by the Government under any remission notification the period during
which an accused person was on bail cannot be taken into account.
For
the reasons stated above, the judgment of the High Court is set aside. We allow
the appeals and also set aside the letter of the 2nd Respondent herein dated
18th of September, 1998 addressed to the CJM and direct the said respondents to
serve the remainder period of their sentence. We make it clear if during the
period of serving their sentence any fresh remission notification is issued by
the concerned Government, the same will be made applicable on terms and
conditions enumerated in the said notification if it is applicable to the said
respondents.
The
appeals are accordingly allowed.
..J.
(U C Banerjee)
.J.
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