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Ram Kumar & Anr. vs. The State of Haryana

Criminal Appeal · 2022 INSC 65Decided 19 Jan 2022
Criminal Appeal No. 104 of 2022
Ajay Rastogi · Abhay S. Oka

Background

Seven persons, including the two appellants, were convicted by a trial court for offences under Sections 148, 323, 325 and 149 IPC arising out of a 2008 assault in which the injured witnesses were beaten with lathis (and, per one witness, an iron rod). Their appeal to the Sessions Court failed, and in a subsequent revision the High Court of Punjab and Haryana reduced the sentence of five of the seven co-accused to the period already undergone, but did not extend the same relief to the two appellants (accused nos. 1 and 6). The appellants challenged this differential treatment before the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court found that the role attributed to the appellants was no different from that of the five co-accused who had already been let off on the sentence undergone, and that the High Court had given no reasons for treating the appellants differently. Given the incident was from 2008, the appellants had already served about six weeks in custody, and there was no factual basis to distinguish their culpability from the other accused, the Court held it unjust to deny them the same benefit. The appeal was allowed and the appellants' substantive sentence was reduced to the period already undergone.

Lesson Learnt

When multiple co-accused face materially identical evidence and roles in a case, courts must apply consistent sentencing treatment among them; an unexplained disparity in relief granted to similarly placed accused is liable to be corrected on appeal.

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

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