For the foregoing, we are of the view that though generally speaking, the benefit of sections 3, 4 and 6 of the Probation of offenders Act, 1958 which, as observed by Subba Rao, J. (as he then was) in Rattan Lal vs State of Punjab(3) is a milestone in the progress of the moderns liberal trend of reform in the field of peonage, can be claimed subject to the conditions specified therein by all offenders other than those found guilty of offences punishable with death or 1112 life imprisonment unless the provisions of the said Act are excluded by section 18 thereof, in case of offences under a special Act enacted after the Probation of offenders Act which prescribes a minimum sentence of imprisonment, the provisions of the Probation of offenders Act cannot be invoked if the special Act contains a provision similar to section 43 of the Defence of India Act, 1962.