Sitaram And Ors vs State Of Rajasthan

Heard learned counsel for the parties on application for suspension of sentence.

Learned counsel for the appellant has submitted that the appellants were convicted for the offence punishable under Section 8/18 of NDPS Act, 1985 and maximum sentence awarded to the appellants is 10 years. Learned counsel for the appellants has submitted that the appellants have already undergone more than half of the sentence i.e. 5 years and 9 months and hearing of the appeal is likely to take time, therefore, sentence awarded by the trial court may be suspended.

Learned counsel for the appellants while placing reliance on the decisions of Hon'ble Supreme Court in Thana Singh vs. Central Bureau of Narcotics reported in (2013) 2 SCC 603 and Mayuresh Nandkumar Purohit vs. Kaushik Manna & Anr. reported in 2018 Cr.L.R. (SC) 251 and has argued that the Hon'ble Supreme Court has ordered for suspension of sentence of the persons convicted under the various provisions of NDPS Act on completion of half of their sentence.

Having heard the learned counsel for the parties, this Court is of the opinion that the appeal preferred by the appellant against the impugned judgment is not likely to be heard in near future and as the appellants have already undergone more than half of the sentence awarded to him, this application for suspension of sentence filed by the appellant deserves to be allowed in view of the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Thana Singh vs. Central Bureau of Narcotics (supra) and Mayuresh Nandkumar Purohit vs. Kaushik Manna & Anr. (supra).

Learned Public Prosecutor has opposed the application for suspension of sentence.

Having considered the totality of facts and circumstances of the case, I consider it just and proper to suspend the substantive sentence awarded to the accused appellant.

Accordingly, the bail application filed under Sec.389 Cr.P.C. is allowed and it is ordered that the substantive sentence passed by the trial court vide judgment dated 17.12.2018 in Case No.49/2016 (22/13) against appellants No.1 Sitaram S/o Indramal, No.2 Keshuram S/o Khema Ram, No.3 Bhagwatilal S/o Onkarlal and No.4 Pappulal s/o Shri Pyarchand shall remain suspended till final disposal of the aforesaid appeal, provided each of them 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 26.3.2019 and whenever ordered to do so, till the disposal of the appeal on the conditions indicated below:-

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

That if the appellants change the place of residence, they will give in writing their changed address to the trial Court as well as to the counsel in the High Court.

Similarly, if the sureties change their address, 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-appellants in a separate file. Such file be registered as Criminal Misc. Case related to original case in which the accused-appellants were 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 appellants do not appear before the trial court, the learned trial Judge shall report the matter to the High Court for cancellation of bail.