Suspension of sentence requires deposit of 15% of the cheque amount, not the total fine.

The petitioners challenged the Sessions Court’s order directing them to deposit 10% of the amount awarded by the Trial Court as a condition for suspension of sentence pending appeal.

The petitioners argued that the Trial Court’s award of Rs.90,10,000 included amounts beyond the Rs.60,00,000 total cheque amount, and that they had already paid Rs.80,00,000 toward the underlying debt.

The respondent disputed that the payment related to the transactions covered by the cheques and submitted that the Trial Court had awarded additional fine, while also contending that a statutory minimum deposit of 20% applied.

The High Court considered whether to interfere with the deposit condition imposed in the pending appeal.

1. Whether the direction to deposit 10% of the Trial Court’s total award, including fine, should be modified where the two cheques totalled Rs.60,00,000.

2. Whether the petitioners’ asserted payment of Rs.80,00,000 should affect the deposit condition at this stage, given the dispute over which transactions that payment concerned.

The Court considered the suspension-of-sentence provisions identified in the judgment as Section 430(1) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 and Section 389(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

It also recorded the respondent’s submission that the law mandated a minimum deposit of 20%, but did not determine that submission as a separate issue.

The Court applied its discretion to modify the deposit condition by reference to the cheque amount, rather than the larger total award.

The Court left unresolved whether the petitioners’ Rs.80,00,000 payment related to the debt underlying the two cheques, holding that this question should be considered at the appeal’s final hearing.

It nevertheless noted that the Sessions Court’s 10% condition had been calculated on Rs.90,10,000, although the aggregate cheque amount was Rs.60,00,000.

To meet the interests of justice, it substituted a deposit of 15% of the cheque amount in both cases.

The amount is to be kept in a nationalised bank in a fixed deposit for one year, with auto-renewal.

The criminal petition was disposed of.