Sentence for Criminal Breach of Trust by Public Servant reduced to period undergone upon full restitution.

The applicant, a Postman at Narsanda Post Office, was charged with misappropriating a money order of ₹1,000 meant for a recipient named Kusumben

While records showed the amount was distributed on 16.10.2002, an inquiry revealed the recipient never received it

On 19.04.2003, the applicant confessed to forging signatures to misappropriate the funds

Following departmental proceedings resulting in his termination, an FIR was lodged a year later

The applicant was convicted under Section 409 of the IPC by the Trial Court (02.03.2017) and the Sessions Court (29.10.2018), receiving a sentence of one year of rigorous imprisonment

The applicant filed this revision limited to the aspect of sentencing

1. Whether the court should exercise its revisional jurisdiction to reduce the substantive sentence of imprisonment to the period already undergone, given the replenishment of the misappropriated amount and the passage of time

Section 397 read with Section 401 of the Code of Criminal Procedure regarding revisional powers

in cases of criminal breach of trust under Section 409 of the Indian Penal Code, where the embezzled amount is small and has been replenished, the court may exercise discretion to reduce the sentence to the period already undergone

Bankupalli Chinnababu v. State (2002) and Ved Prakash Handooja v. Delhi Administration (1974)

The Court noted that the applicant did not challenge the conviction but sought leniency in sentencing

Upon reviewing the record, the Court observed that the incident dated back to 2002 and the applicant had already lost his employment through departmental termination

Crucially, the Court found that the misappropriated amount (₹1,000) was replenished even before the FIR was registered, and the victim had not personally filed a complaint

Applying the rationale from Bankupalli Chinnababu and Ved Prakash Handooja, where sentences were reduced following the reimbursement of funds, the Court determined that the ends of justice would be met by reducing the sentence to the period already served (one month and twenty-three days)

The fine amount imposed by the lower courts was confirmed. The applicant's bail bonds were discharged upon the disposal of the application