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Bhagwan Narayan Gaikwad v. The State of Maharashtra

Criminal Appeal · 2021 INSC 503Decided 20 Sept 2021
Criminal Appeal No. 1039 of 2021
Justice Ajay Rastogi · Justice Abhay S. Oka

Background

In a 1993 attack, the appellant and others assaulted a victim with a tractor, stones, and bladed weapons, severing the victim's right leg below the knee and right forearm below the elbow; doctors testified that without immediate treatment the victim would have died. The trial court convicted the appellant and 11 others under Section 326 IPC (causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapon); on appeal in 2021 (28 years later), the High Court upheld the appellant's conviction and sentenced him to 5 years' rigorous imprisonment plus Rs. 2 lakh compensation. The appellant sought leniency before the Supreme Court based on a compromise affidavit filed by the victim.

Decision Breakdown

The Court found the compromise affidavit, filed only after conviction, nearly 28 years after the incident, to be formulaic and apparently copied from the language of an unrelated judgment, and held it did not warrant disturbing the sentence, especially since Section 326 IPC is a non-compoundable offence. Weighing the brutality and lifelong impact on the victim (permanent disability requiring prosthetics) against the asserted reconciliation between the families, the Court declined to interfere with the conviction or reduce the sentence, and dismissed the appeal.

Lesson Learnt

A private compromise between an accused and a victim, particularly one arriving only after conviction and decades after a serious, legally non-compoundable crime, will not automatically secure a reduced sentence; courts scrutinise the genuineness of such settlements and weigh them against the gravity of the offence and the public interest in deterrence.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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