An Alternate Sessions Judge reduced the jail sentence of two appellants convicted of abetting suicide under Sections 306/34 IPC to the period already served, allowing them release if not required for other reasons, while maintaining the fine.
Jail sentence reduced to period already undergone; appellants ordered to be released forthwith.
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Digitally signed by BHOLA NATH KHATAI Date: 2025.07.16 11:01:47 +0530
NAFR
HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR
CRA No. 296 of 2025
Smt Basanti Bai W/o Chaman Lal Dewangan Aged About 50 Years R/o Village Sonpur, Police Station Surajpur, DistrictSurajpur (C.G.)
--- Appellant(s)
versus
State Of Chhattisgarh Through- Station House Officer, Police Station- Surajpur, District- Surajpur (C.G.)
--- Respondent(s)
For Appellant : Mr. Santosh Bharat, Advocate For Respondent/State : Mr. Akhilesh Kumar, Govt. Advocate
CRA No. 1737 of 2024
Surajlal Dewangan S/o Chaman Lal, Aged About 23 Years R/o Sonpur, P.S.-Surajpur, District- Surajpur (C.G.)
--- Appellant(s)
Versus
State Of Chhattisgarh Through Station House Officer, Police Station- Surajpur, District- Surajpur (C.G.)
--- Respondent(s)
For Appellant : Mr. Rakesh Kumar, Adv. on behalf of Mr. Pushpendra Kumar Patel, Adv.
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For Respondent/State : Mr. Akhilesh Kumar, Govt. Advocate
Hon'ble Shri Justice Sanjay Kumar Jaiswal
Judgment on Board
11/07/2025
| Conviction | Sentence | |
|---|---|---|
| R.I. for 7 years with fine of | Rs.100/-, | |
| U/s 306/34 of | in default of payment | of fine, |
| IPC | additional imprisonment months. |
for 3 |
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The allegation against the appellants Basanti Bai and Surajlal Dewangan is that they pressurized deceased Kaleshwari Rajwade of village Telsara to marry appellant Surajlal Dewangan and instigated her to commit suicide, due to which she committed suicide by jumping into the well. Based on the report lodged by the father of the deceased, FIR was registered and after completion of investigation charge sheet was filed against the appellants.
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they may be released from jail.
10 As regards sentence, in the matter of Mohammad Giasuddin v. State of Andhra Pradesh reported in (1977) 3 SCC 287 , Hon’ble Supreme Court has observed that 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 and held in para-9 as follows:
"The laws of England are written in blood". Alfieri has suggested : 'society prepares the crime, the criminal commits it’. George Nicodotis, Director of Criminological Research Centre, Athens, Greece, maintains that 'Crime is the result of the lack of the right kind of education.' It is thus plain that crime is a pathological aberration, that the criminal
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can ordinarily be redeemed, that the State has to rehabilitate rather than avenge. The sub-culture that leads to anti-social behaviour has to be countered not by undue cruelty but by reculturisation. Therefore, the focus of interest in penology is the individual, and goal is salvaging him for society. The infliction of harsh and savage punishment is thus a relic of past and regressive times. The human today views 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 social defense. We, therefore consider 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. In the words of George Bernard Shaw : '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'. We may permit ourselves the liberty to quote from Judge Sir Jeoffrey Streatfield : “If you are going to have anything to do with the criminal Courts, you should see for yourself the conditions under which prisoners serve their sentences.”
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year 8 months & 21days by appellant Basanti Bai and 2 years, 4 months & 7 days by appellant Surajlal Dewangan. However, the fine amount and its default stipulation imposed by the trial Court shall remain intact.
Sd/(Sanjay Kumar Jaiswal) JUDGE
Khatai
2 issues framed by the court
Whether the appellants should be released from jail after serving part of the sentence.
Whether the sentence imposed on the appellants should be reduced to the period already undergone.
Colour shows how this judgement treated each authority
Mohammad Giasuddin v. State of Andhra PradeshReferred¶8
Mohammad Giasuddin v. State of Andhra Pradesh (1977) 3 SCC 287 · Who else cites this
2 provisions across 2 enactments
Smt Basanti Bai
Surajlal Dewangan
State Of Chhattisgarh
Sanjay Kumar Jaiswal
As recorded by the court registry
Judgements on the same questions, provisions and authorities, from every court
