Manoj Prasad Gupta vs State of Jharkhand

Virender Singh, C.J.—[I.A. No. 1663 of 2016]

Registry is directed to tag the records of Cr. Appeal (SJ) No. 231 of 2015 along with the instant appeal so that both the appeals are finally taken up by the Division Bench only in order to avoid any inconvenience.

The applicant-appellant is in custody for the last 04 years 07 months thereby he has already undergone almost half of the substantive sentence. On merit, the learned counsel for the applicant-appellant has taken us through all the material evidence including the medical evidence also. He then submitted that in the present set of circumstances, the period already undergone by him may also be considered for the purposes of releasing him on bail during the pendency of the main appeal. Learned counsel has further submitted that the co-convict of the applicant-appellant has already been granted concession of bail in Cr. Appeal (SJ) No. 231 of 2015.

Keeping in view all these factors into consideration, especially that the applicant-appellant has already undergone almost half of the sentence, he deserves the concession of suspension of sentence but, what we find in the impugned judgment is that while convicting the applicant-appellant and sentencing him for the charge under Section 376 IPC, the court has not taken care of the provision of Section 357A Cr.P.C., therefore, we, at this stage, while dealing with the application of the applicant-appellant for suspension of sentence, take note into consideration that the applicant-appellant deserves to be released on bail, during the pendency of the appeal, subject to deposit of Rs. 50,000/- (Rupees Fifty Thousand) as compensation to the victim.

Resultantly, the instant application is allowed.

Let the applicant-appellant namely, Manoj Prasad Gupta, be released on bail, during the pendency of the instant appeal, on furnishing bail bond of Rs. 10,000/- (Rupees Ten Thousand) with two sureties of the like amount each, to the satisfaction of the learned Additional Sessions Judge 1st F.T.C., Hazaribagh, in connection with Sessions Trial No. 569 of 2011, subject to the condition that the applicant-appellant shall deposit Rs. 50,000/- (Rupees Fifty Thousand) before the court below as compensation to the victim as per the provision of Section 357A Cr.P.C., which shall be paid to the victim by the trial court forthwith, after notice to her and on proper identification.