### Reduction of sentence to period undergone while enhancing fine for non-premeditated SC/ST Act offenses

On October 1, 2017, the appellants, Arjun Singh and Mohan Singh, assaulted the complainant, Parasram (PW-1), and his brother Devkaran (PW-4) with sticks and rods following a dispute over bringing laborers for soybean harvesting.

Medical examinations revealed a fracture in Parasram's left radius bone.

On September 12, 2019, the Special Judge (SC/ST Act), Sehore, convicted the appellants for causing grievous hurt and criminal assault under the IPC read with the SC/ST (POA) Act, sentencing them to 18 months and 3 months R.I. respectively.

The appellants filed these appeals challenging the conviction but later limited their plea to the reduction of the sentence to the period already undergone.

1. Whether the delay of 2155 days in filing Criminal Appeal No. 10769 of 2025 should be condoned.

2. Whether the findings of conviction under Sections 325/34 and 323/34 of the IPC read with Section 3(2)(va) of the SC/ST (POA) Act were sustainable.

3. Whether the custodial sentence could be reduced to the period already undergone (approx. 4 months for Mohan Singh and 16 days for Arjun Singh) considering their status as first offenders and the nature of the offence.

The Court applied the sentencing provisions under Section 325 of the IPC (punishment for voluntarily causing grievous hurt) and Section 323 of the IPC (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), both read with Section 34 of the IPC (common intention).

The charges were further qualified by Section 3(2)(va) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, which provides for enhanced punishment for specific IPC offences committed against members of the SC/ST community.

The Court noted that Section 3(2)(va) does not prescribe a mandatory minimum sentence.

The Court reviewed the evidence and affirmed the trial court’s findings on conviction, noting that the evidence was rightly appreciated.

On the point of sentence, the Court evaluated the mitigating circumstances: the incident occurred in 2017; the appellants were young at the time (21 and 32 years respectively); they are first-time offenders; and they had undergone the agony of trial for nearly nine years.

The Court observed that while Arjun Singh had served only 16 days and Mohan Singh 4 months, the ends of justice would be met by substituting the remaining jail term with an enhanced fine, particularly because no minimum sentence is mandated for the specific charge under the SC/ST Act.

However, it modified the sentence by reducing the jail term to the period already undergone by both appellants.

To balance the reduction, the Court enhanced the fine for the offence under Section 325/34 IPC read with Section 3(2)(va) of the SC/ST Act from Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 10,000, while maintaining the Rs. 1,000 fine for the Section 323/34 charge.

The enhanced fine was ordered to be paid to the victims as compensation under Section 357 Cr.P.C.

Failure to pay the fine within 60 days would result in the restoration of the original trial court sentence.