Chaman Lal vs The State of Punjab

Daya Chaudhary, J.—The present revision petition has been filed by petitioner Chaman Lal against judgment dated 26.8.2010 passed by

Addl. Sessions Judge, Kapurthala vide which the appeal filed by him against judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 6th February,

2007 passed by Judicial Magistrate Ist Class, Phagwara has been dismissed and conviction and sentence upheld.

Notice in the revision as well as in the application for suspension of sentence was issued on 6th October, 2010.

Learned Counsel for the petitioner at the very outset submits that he does not want to contest the conviction of the petitioner but prays for

reduction in the sentence to the period already undergone as he has suffered the agony of protracted trial since 27th January, 2005. Against the

total sentence of one year, the petitioner has undergone 2 months 22 days of actual sentence. He is poor Crl. Revision No. 2762 of 2010 person

and is the only bread winner of his family.

The case of the prosecution is that complainant Khunman Lal and his brother Tilak Ram were going on their bicycles towards village Kanshi

Nagar. When his brother reached in front of GNA Main Gate on the G.T. Road, a bus bearing registration No. PB-08-AJ-7381 being driven by

the petitioner rashly and negligently, came there and hit the bicycle of his brother, as a result of which he fell down and the front left tyre of the bus

crushed his head. He died at the spot. The driver of the bus fled away from the spot. Dead body was removed to the Civil Hospital, Phagwara.

Police reached at the spot. Ruqa was sent to the Police Station and on its basis the FIR was registered. The petitioner was charge-sheeted u/s

279/304A. The trial Court vide judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 6.2.2007 convicted the petitioner u/s 304A/279 IPC and

sentenced him as under:

To undergo RI for a period of one

Under Section 304Ayear and to pay a fine of Rs. 500/-

IPC ; in default of payment of fine, to

further undergo RI for one month.

To undergo RI for a period of

Under Section 279

three months and to pay a fine of

IPC

Rs. 200/-.

Against the judgment of conviction and order of sentence dated 6.2.2007 passed by Judicial Magistrate Ist Class, Phagwara, the petitioner filed

an appeal before the Addl. Sessions Judge, Kapurthala which was dismissed and conviction and sentence upheld. The present revision petition has

been filed against the judgment passed by Addl. Sessions Judge dated 26.8.2010.

Learned Counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner was not the driver of the offending vehicle at the relevant time and, therefore he has

no concern with the alleged commission of offence. Learned Counsel further submits that there is an unexplained delay of 24 hours in lodging of the

FIR as the occurrence took place on 27.1.2005 at 2.00 p.m. whereas the FIR was registered on 28.1.2005 at about 1.15 p.m. after delay of 24

hours. Learned Counsel for the petitioner also submits that the petitioner is ready to give some reasonable amount of compensation to the family of

the deceased, if sentence is reduced to the period already undergone by him as he has suffered a lot.

Mr. Vishal Munjal, learned Addl. A.G. Punjab has also no objection in reduction of the sentence in case petitioner is ready to give some

reasonable amount of compensation to the family of the deceased.

I have heard the arguments of learned Counsel for the parties and have also gone through the judgments of both the Courts below and other

documents available on the file.

In this case, the FIR was registered on the basis of statement made by complainant Khunman Lal by stating that he was going with his brother

Tilak Ram (deceased) on their bicycles towards village Kanshi Nagar. His brother was ahead of him. When he reached in front of GNA Main

Gate on G.T. Road, a bus bearing registration No. PB-08-AJ-7381 being driven by the petitioner rashly and negligently came there and hit the

bicycle of his brother, as a result of which he fell down and front left tyre of the bus crushed his head. He died at the spot.

The learned Counsel for the petitioner has not contested the conviction of the petitioner and has made a prayer for reduction in the sentence to

the period already undergone by him as he has already suffered the protracted trial since 2005. The petitioner is the only bread winner of his

family. He is also ready to deposit some reasonable amount of compensation to the family of the deceased.

Without saying much more on merits of the case, since the learned Counsel for the petitioner has not contested the conviction of the petitioner

and has restricted his prayer to the sentence part only with the submission that sentence be reduced to the period already undergone. The

petitioner has undergone 2 months and 22 days of sentence against the total sentence of 1 year and has already suffered the agony of protracted

trial since 2005.

Keeping in view the fact that the petitioner is first offender having no criminal background and has already undergone more than two months of

actual sentence against total sentence of one year and has faced the agony of protracted trial since 2005, the prayer of the petitioner seems to be

genuine.

Under these circumstances, while maintaining the conviction of petitioner Chaman Lal under Sections 279 and 304A IPC, the sentence

imposed upon him is reduced to the period already undergone subject to payment of Rs. 30,000/-as compensation to the family of the deceased .

The said amount be deposited before the trial Court within a period of one month from the date of release from the jail, failing which the petitioner

would undergo the remainder of sentence.

With the above modification of sentence, the revision petition is dismissed.