Pappu Nath vs State

Heard on the application for suspension of sentences.

Perused the material available on record.

The appellant - applicant stands convicted and sentenced vide judgment dated 13.05.2019 passed in Sessions Case No.11/2015 (NCV No.77/2015) by learned Additional Sessions Judge No.3, Jodhpur Metropolitan.

Learned defence counsel Shri Niranjan Joshi, urges that there is no evidence on the entire record of the case so as to connect the accused - appellant with the alleged murder of Shaukeen. He submits that the witnesses of circumstance of last seen namely PW-3 Biram and PW-4 Jamal have given totally concocted and cooked up evidence. The applicant was not known to these persons from before and he has been identified by them for the first time in the Court only on the basis that co-accused Sanwarlal @ Lalu gave out the names of his companions to be Ajay Singh and Pappu Nath. Shri Joshi urges that the recovery of Purse and Identity Card effected by the Investigating Officer at the instance of the applicant is totally unbelievable. It is not possible that the accused would retain these worthless articles for such a long time period so as to create evidence against himself. He urges that the accused - applicant has remained in custody for five years and he has strong grounds so as to challenge the impugned judgment of conviction. He, thus, urges that the applicant deserves indulgence suspension of sentences during the pendency of the appeal.

Per contra, learned Public Prosecutor vehemently and fervently opposes the submissions advanced by the learned defence counsel and contends that there is strong evidence in form of the recovery of the Driving License and the purse belonging to the deceased Shaukeen which conclusively links the accused - appellant with the crime and hence, he urges that he application for suspension of sentence is not fit to be accepted.

Heard the arguments advanced by the learned counsel for the parties and perused the impugned judgment as well as the record.

Ex facie, the prosecution case as against the accused - applicant seems to be based primarily on the recovery of the Driving License and the Purse of the deceased allegedly effected at the instance of the accused - applicant. Whether or not such recovery can be considered reliable so as to affirm the conviction of the accused - applicant would be finally decided at the time of hearing of the appeal. However, considering the fact that the accused - applicant has remained in custody for 5 years and since hearing of the appeal is likely to take time, we deem it appropriate to accept the application for suspension of sentences.

Accordingly, the application for suspension of sentence filed under Section 389 Cr.P.C. is allowed and it is ordered that the sentences passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge No.3, Jodhpur Metropolitan, vide judgment dated 13.05.2019 in Sessions Case No.11/2015 against the appellant - applicant Pappu Nath, 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/- with two sureties of Rs.25,000/- each to the satisfaction of the learned trial Judge for his appearance in this Court on 05.09.2019 and whenever ordered to do so till the disposal of the appeal on the conditions indicated below:-

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

That if the applicant changes 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.

Similarly, if the sureties change their address(s), they will give in writing their changed address to the trial Court.

The learned trial Court shall keep the record of attendance of the accused-applicant in a separate file. Such file be registered as Criminal Misc. Case related to original case in which the accused-applicant was tried and convicted. A copy of this order shall also be placed in that file for ready reference. Criminal Misc. file shall not be taken into account for statistical purpose relating to pendency and disposal of cases in the trial court. In case the said accused applicant does not appear before the trial court, the learned trial Judge shall report the matter to the High Court for cancellation of bail.