Full Judgment Text
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IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION
CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 565 OF 2003
RAGHU @ RAGHAVBHAI VASHRAMBHAI & ANR. ..... APPELLANTS
VERSUS
STATE OF GUJARAT ..... RESPONDENT
O R D E R
Heard learned counsel for the parties.
The prosecution was initiated in July, 1988 when
one Shekhar was done to death by the appellants. The
trial court made an outright acquittal of the accused
for the offences they had been charged with. The State
filed an appeal against acquittal before the High
court. In view of the dissenting judgments rendered by
the Hon'ble Judges on 16.08.1999, the matter was
referred to Hon'ble the Chief Justice of the High Court
under Section 392 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for
further orders. Thereafter the third Hon'ble Judge
vide the impugned judgment convicted the appellants
under Section 304 (II) of the Indian Penal Code and
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sentenced them to 45 months R.I. and a fine of Rs.
1,25,000/- with respect to appellant No. 2 – Ghanshyam
and Rs. 75,000/- in case of appellant No. 1 – Raghu.
We are informed by the learned counsel for the
appellants that Raghu has since undergone the sentence
whereas Ghanshyam has undergone 36 months of the
sentence and that he has already paid the fine of Rs.
1,12,000/- to the wife of the deceased who has since
got married to her brother-in-law (brother of the
deceased-husband).
In view of the peculiar facts and circumstances
of the case, we find that the sentence of appellant No.
2 should also be reduced to that already undergone as
we notice that the incident had happened in the year
1988 and the wife of the deceased has also been
compensated by way of substantial compensation in terms
of money. We, accordingly, dismiss the appeal but
reduce the sentence of appellant No. 2 - Ghanshayam to
that already undergone by him. No orders need be
passed with respect to appellant No. 1 – Raghu who is
stated to have undergone the complete sentence.
..................J
[HARJIT SINGH BEDI]
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..................J
[AFTAB ALAM]
NEW DELHI
AUGUST 25, 2009.