Partly allowed

Mohd. Javed v. State of U.P.

Allahabad HC18 Jan 2021CRLA/304/2020

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

In Criminal Appeal No. 304 of 2020, the High Court upheld the conviction of the appellant under the NDPS Act for possessing narcotics. Although the appeal was not pressed on merits, the court modified the sentence to reduce the fine and benefits the time already spent in jail.

What did the court decide?

Conviction upheld; sentence modified to reduce fine to Rs. 10,000 and offset period already undergone.

Mohd. Javed Vs State of U.P. — Narcotics (NDPS) | Allahabad HC (2021)

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AFR

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Court No. - 90

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Case :- CRIMINAL APPEAL No. - 304 of 2020

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Appellant :- Mohd. Javed Respondent :- State of U.P. Counsel for Appellant :- Mukesh Kumar Counsel for Respondent :- G.A.

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Hon'ble Ajit Singh,J.

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Heard Sri Mukesh Kumar, learned counsel for the appellant and learned A.G.A. for the State and perused the record. This criminal appeal has been filed against the judgement and dated 14.02.2019 passed by Additional Sessions Judge 9th, Kanpur Nagar, in S.T. No. 1035 of 1998 (State Vs. Mohd. Javed), arising out of Case Crime no. 326 of 1996, under Section 18/20/21 of N.D.P.S. Act, P.S. Naubasta, District Kanpur Nagar, whereby learned Judge convicted and sentenced the appellant to five years rigorous imprisonment under Section 18-C of N.D.P.S., Act with a fine of Rs. 25,000/- and in default of payment of fine, further additional imprisonment for three months.

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The prosecution story in brief is that on 18.04.1996 Sri Uday Pratap Singh SHO along with some other police personnel were on patrolling duty in search of wanted criminals near Gopal Nagar bypass, suddenly two persons were seen coming together on scooter no. UMY-371 from Gopal Nagar and when they saw the police jeep they started running towards back side. On suspicion, the police party chased them and caught hold the suspected persons before gopal nagar tri crossing adjacent to ara machine of Ram Dhani Sharma. After catching the suspected persons the police enquired about running away after seeing the police personnel then the suspected persons admitted that they were having smack and poppy straw. When the police asked them whether they are interested to search by a Gazetted Officer then the accused persons told that now we are in your custody so you may search out. When the police personnel asked the people and shop keepers for witnessing they denied to be witness of the incident. After being enquired the suspected person told their names as Ramesh Chandra Gupta @ Babloo son of Laxmi Shanker Gupta, resident of 133, Gopal Nagar, Naubasta, Kanpur Nagar and Mohd. Javed son of Mohd Sareef, R/o. 126/11, NLC Colony Thana Babupurwa, Kanpur Nagar. From the possession of Ramesh Chandra Gupta @ Babloo a white coloured polythene in which 1 1/2 Kg. poppy straw was

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kept and from another polythene bag 150 grams of smack was also recovered. From the possession of Mohd. Javed 1 1/2 Kg. poppy straw was recovered in two polythene bags and from his pocket about 125 grams smack was also recovered. When the police personnel enquired about the licence they fail to show the licence.

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At the very outset, learned counsel for the appellant, on instructions, stated that he does not propose to challenge the impugned judgement and order on its merits. He, however, prayed for modification of the order of the sentence for the period already undergone by the appellant.

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In furtherance to his submission, the learned counsel for the accused-appellant submits that the accused appellant had been in jail during trial and after conviction he is in jail. As such, the accused has already served out for about two years and four months of the sentence. The accused-appellant is a young man and he is the only male member in the family to look after his parents. Further submission is that it was the first offence of the accused and after conviction the accused had not indulged in any other criminal activity. He next submits that although the trial court has convicted the present accused on the basis of mere conjunctures and surmises while the appellant is absolutely innocent and has been falsely implicated in this case with the ulterior intention of harassing him. He also submits that on the question of legality of sentence he is not pressing this appeal and only pressing on the quantum of sentence and he has prayed for taking lenient view considering the age of the accused and his age related ailments.

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Learned A.G.A. has vehemently opposed the submission made by learned counsel for the appellant. He has however, submits that if slight reduction in sentence is made, he has no objection.

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I have perused the entire material available on record and the evidence as well as judgment of the trial court. The learned counsel for the accused-appellant does not want to press the appeal on its merit and requests to take a lenient view of the matter.

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In Mohd. Giasuddin Vs. State of AP, AIR 1977 SC 1926 , explaining rehabilitary & reformative aspects in sentencing it has been observed by the Supreme Court:

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"Crime is a pathological aberration. The criminal can ordinarily be redeemed and the state has to rehabilitate rather than avenge. The sub-culture that leads to ante-social behaviour has to be countered not by undue cruelty but by

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reculturization.Therefore, the focus of interest in penology in the individual and the goal is salvaging him for the society. The infliction of harsh and savage punishment is thus a relic of past and regressive times. The human today vies sentencing as a process of reshaping a person who has deteriorated into criminality and the modern community has a primary stake in the rehabilitation of the offender as a means of a social defence. Hence a therapeutic, rather than an 'in terrorem' outlook should prevail in our criminal courts, since brutal incarceration of the person merely produces laceration of his mind. If you are to punish a man retributively, you must injure him. If you are to reform him, you must improve him and, men are not improved by injuries."

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In Sham Sunder vs Puran, (1990) 4 SCC 731, where the high court reduced the sentence for the offence under section 304 part I into undergone, the supreme court opined that the sentence needs to be enhanced being inadequate. It was held:

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"The court in fixing the punishment for any particular crime should take into consideration the nature of offence, the circumstances in which it was committed, the degree of deliberation shown by the offender. The measure of punishment should be proportionate to the gravity of offence."

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In State of MP vs Najab Khan, (2013) 9 SCC 509, the high court, while upholding conviction, reduced the sentence of 3 years by already undergone which was only 15 days. The supreme court restored the sentence awarded by the trial court. Referring the judgments in Jameel vs State of UP (2010) 12 SCC 532, Guru Basavraj vs State of Karnatak, (2012) 8 SCC 734, the court observed as follows:-

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"In operating the sentencing system, law should adopt the corrective machinery or the deterrence based on factual matrix. The facts and given circumstances in each case, the nature of the crime, the manner in which it was planned and committed, the motive for commission of the crime, the conduct of the accused, the nature of weapons used and all other attending circumstances are relevant facts which would enter into the area of consideration. We also reiterate that undue sympathy to impose inadequate sentence would do more harm to the justice dispensation system to undermine the public confidence in the efficacy of law. It is the duty of court to award proper sentence having regard to the nature of offence and the manner in which it was executed or committed. The courts must not only keep in view the rights of victim of the crime but also the society at large while considering the imposition of appropriate punishment.

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Earlier, "Proper Sentence" was explained in Deo Narain Mandal Vs. State of UP (2004) 7 SCC 257 by observing that Sentence should not be either excessively harsh or ridiculously low. While determining the quantum of sentence, the court should bear in mind the principle of proportionately. Sentence should be based on facts of a given case. Gravity of offence, manner of commission of crime, age and sex of accused should be taken into account. Discretion of Court in awarding sentence cannot be exercised arbitrarily or whimsically.

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In subsequent decisions, the supreme court has laid emphasis on proportional sentencing by affirming the doctrine of proportionality. In Shyam Narain vs State (NCT of delhi), (2013) 7 SCC 77 , it was pointed out that sentencing for any offence has a social goal. Sentence is to be imposed with regard being had to the nature of the offence and the manner in which the offence has been committed. The fundamental purpose of imposition of sentence is based on the principle that the accused must realize that the crime committed by him has not only created a dent in the life of the victim but also a concavity in the social fabric. The purpose of just punishment is that the society may not suffer again by such crime. The principle of proportionality between the crime committed and the penalty imposed are to be kept in mind. The impact on the society as a whole has to be seen. Similar view has been expressed in S umer Singh vs Surajbhan Singh, (2014) 7 SCC 323 , State of Punjab vs Bawa Singh, (2015) 3 SCC 441, and Raj Bala vs State of Haryana, (2016) 1 SCC 463.

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In Kokaiyabai Yadav vs State of Chhattisgarh(2017) 13 SCC 449 , it has been observed that reforming criminals who understand their wrongdoing, are able to comprehend their acts,have grown and nartured into citizens with a desire to live a fruitful life in the outside world, have the capacity of humanising the world.

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In Ravada Sasikala vs. State of A.P. AIR 2017 SC 1166 , the Supreme Court referred the judgments in Jameel vs State of UP (2010) 12 SCC 532, Guru Basavraj vs State of Karnatak, (2012) 8 SCC 734, Sumer Singh vs Surajbhan Singh, (2014) 7 SCC 323 , State of Punjab vs Bawa Singh, (2015) 3 SCC 441, and Raj Bala vs State of Haryana, (2016) 1 SCC 463 and has reiterated that, in operating the sentencing system, law should adopt corrective machinery or deterrence based on factual matrix. Facts and given circumstances in each case, nature of crime, manner in which it was planned and committed, motive for commission of crime, conduct of accused, nature of weapons used and all other attending circumstances are relevant facts which would enter into area of consideration. Further,

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undue sympathy in sentencing would do more harm to justice dispensations and would undermine the public confidence in the efficacy of law. It is the duty of every court to award proper sentence having regard to nature of offence and manner of its commission. The supreme court further said that courts must not only keep in view the right of victim of crime but also society at large. While considering imposition of appropriate punishment, the impact of crime on the society as a whole and rule of law needs to be balanced. The judicial trend in the country has been towards striking a balance between reform and punishment. The protection of society and stamping out criminal proclivity must be the object of law which can be achieved by imposing appropriate sentence on criminals and wrongdoers. Law, as a tool to maintain order and peace, should effectively meet challenges confronting the society, as society could not long endure and develop under serious threats of crime and disharmony. It is therefore, necessary to avoid undue leniency in imposition of sentence. Thus, the criminal justice jurisprudence adopted in the country is not retributive but reformative and corrective. At the same time, undue harshness should also be avoided keeping in view the reformative approach underlying in our criminal justice system.

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Keeping in view the facts and circumstances of the case and also keeping in view criminal jurisprudence in our country which is reformative and corrective and not retributive. This Court considers that no accused person is incapable of being reformed and therefore, all measures should be applied to give them an opportunity of reformation in order to bring them in the social stream.

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Since the learned counsel for appellant has not pressed the appeal on merits, however, this Court after perusal of the entire evidence on record and judgment of the learned Trial Court considers that the appeal is devoid of merit and is liable to be dismissed. Hence, the conviction of the appellant is upheld .

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Accordingly, the conviction is upheld. The appeal is partly allowed with the modification of the sentence by the period already undergone and served out by the appellant and with fine of Rs. 10,000/-. Appellant shall deposit a fine of Rs. 10,000/before the learned court below within four months from the date of passing of the judgment and in default of payment of fine the accused-appellant shall further under go one month imprisonment.

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Office is directed to transmit the lower court record along with a copy of this judgment to the learned court below for information and necessary compliance as warranted.

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The party shall file computer generated copy of such order downloaded from the official website of High Court Allahabad, self attested by the learned counsel for the applicant alongwith a self attested identity proof of the said persons (preferably Aadhar Card) mentioning the mobile number (s) to which the said Aadhar Card is linked before the concerned Court/Authority/Official.

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The concerned Court/Authority/Official shall verify the authenticity of such computerized copy of the order from the official website of High Court Allahabad and shall make a declaration of such verification in writing.

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Order Date :- 18.1.2021 Vikram

Mohd. Javed v. State of U.P.

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

Mohd. Javed v. State of U.P.

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

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