N Criminal Appeal No 154 of 1975
Appeal by Special Leave from the Judgment and order dated the 18th February 1975 of the Madhya Pradesh High Court at Jabalpur in Criminal Appeal No 789 of 1972
Sarju Prasad and section N Prasad for the Appellant
Ram Panjwani Dy
Advocate General MP H section Parihar and I N Shroff for the Respondent
The Judgment of the Court was delivered by GOSWAMI J
To adjust the duration of imprisonment to the gravity of a particular offence is not always an easy task
Sentencing involves an element of guessing but often settles down to practice obtaining in a particular court with inevitable differences arising in the context of the times and events in the light of social imperatives
It is always a 714 matter of judicial discretion subject to any mandatory minimum prescribed by law
Hegel in his Philosophy of Right  pithily put the difficulty as follows Reason cannot determine nor can the concept provide any principle whose application could decide whether justice requires for an offence i a corporal punishment of forty lashes or thirty nine or ii a fine of five dollars or four dollars ninety three four etc cents or iii imprisonment of a year or three hundred and sixty four three etc days or a year and one two or three days
And yet injustice is done at once if there is one lash too many or one dollar or one cent one week in prison or one day too many or too few
The present appeal by special leave being limited to sentence we are to consider about the appropriate deserts for the appellant in this case
The appellant was a Circle organizer in the Tribal Welfare Department at Lohandiguda in the State of Madhya Pradesh
He was entrusted with the distribution of stipends to Adivasi students of the Tribal Welfare Department School
He misappropriated a sum of Rs 500 meant for four students and also forged certain entries in the bills
He was convicted under section 409 and section 467 IPC by the Sessions Judge and sentenced for each head of charge to con current four years  rigorous imprisonment and also to a fine of Rs 500  in default to rigorous imprisonment for six months
The High Court on appeal maintained the conviction but reduced the sentence to two years  rigorous imprisonment maintaining the fine
From a perusal of the judgment of the High Court which is the only document in the paper book in addition to the special leave petition it is not very clear about the offence of forgery committee by the accused
We would however say nothing more than that
In judging the adequacy of a sentence the nature of the offence the circumstances of its commission the age and character of the offender injury to individuals or to society effect of the punishment on the offender eye to correction and reformation of the offender are some amongst many other factors which would be ordinarily taken into consideration by courts
Trial courts in this country already over burdened with work have hardly any time to set apart for sentencing reflection
This aspect is missed or deliberately ignored by accused lest a possible plea for reduction of sentence may be considered as weakening his defence
In a good system of administration of criminal justice pre sentence investigation may be of great sociological value
Through out the world humanitarianism is permeating into penology and the courts are expected to discharge their appropriate roles
715 The appellant is a youngman of about 30 years
He is an educated person who was employed in Government service
But for the forgery he could have been tried in the court of a first class Magistrate for the offence under section 409 IPC and in that case the maximum sentence of imprisonment would have been two years  rigorous imprisonment on the face of the High Court s judgment as noticed above the part played by the appellant in the forgery is rather a little obscure
The appellant is sure to lose his employment under the Government
There is already indignity heaped upon him on account of conviction
He has the opportunity to commit such offence as a Government servant in the future
Any sentence of imprisonment imposed upon him will be a deterrent to others similarly disposed in such unlawful pursuits
The appellant was refused bail in this Court and he is said to have served about nine months in prison
While we do not minimise the seriousness of the offences having regard to the circumstances mentioned above we are of opinion that it will meet the ends of justice in this case if we order which we do that the appellant s sentence be reduced to one year s rigorous imprisonment only and in addition to a fine of Rs 500 only in default rigorous imprisonment for six months
The appeal is partly allowed with modification of the sentence as ordered
PHP Appeal partly allowed


Summary:
The appellant was a Circle organizer in the Tribal Welfare Department
He was entrusted with the distribution of stipends to adivasi students of the Tribal Welfare Department School
He misappropriated a sum of Rs 500 
meant for 4 students and also forged certain entries in the bills
He was convicted under section 409 and section 467 of IPC by the Sessions Judge and  sentenced to 4 years rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 500 
The High Court on appeal maintained the conviction but reduced the sentence to 2 years rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 500 
on an appeal by Special leave limited only to the question of sentence
 HELD 1 To adjust the duration of imprisonment to the gravity of a particular offence is not always an easy task
It is always a matter of judicial discretion subject to any mandatory minimum prescribed by law
In judging the adequacy of a sentence the nature of the offence the circumstances of its commission the age and character of the offender injury to individuals or to Society effect of the punishment on the offender eye to correction or reformation of the offender are some amongst many other factors which would be ordinarily taken into consideration by courts
713GH 714 FG 2
Trial Courts in this country already over burdened with work have hardly any time to set apart for sentencing reflection
In a good system of administration of criminal justice pre sentence investigation may be of great sociological value
Throughout the world humanitarianism is permeating into penology and the courts are expected to discharge their appropriate roles
714 GH 3
Without minimising the seriousness of the offence having regard to the circumstances of the case the sentence was reduced from 2 years to one year 715 C