Criminal Appeal No.1417-SB of 2001 -1- IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH. Criminal Appeal No.1417-SB of 2001 Date of Decision: December 20, 2010 Shankar @ Pawan Kumar and others .......Appellants Versus State of Punjab .......Respondent CORAM:- HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE JITENDRA CHAUHAN Present: Mr.HS Dhindsa, Advocate for the appellants. Mr.JS Bhullar, Assistant Advocate General, Punjab. <><><> JITENDRA CHAUHAN, J. 1. This appeal is directed against the judgment and order dated 30.10.2001 (hereinafter referred to as the 'impugned judgment') passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Ludhiana (hereinafter referred to as the 'trial Court') whereby in case FIR No.113 dated 10.4.1998 registered at Police Station Sadar, Ludhiana, the accused-appellants have been convicted for the offence punishable under Section 498-A of the Indian Penal Code and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of three years each and to pay a fine of Rs.5,000/- each or in default of payment of fine, to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of one year each. Criminal Appeal No.1417-SB of 2001 -2- 2. Accused-appellants were tried by the learned trial Court under Section 304-B of the Indian Penal Code on the allegations that they all harassed, mal-treated and taunted Simmi daughter of Tarsem Lal, the complainant, for bringing inadequate dowry at the time of her marriage with accused-appellant Shankar, which compelled her to commit suicide by hanging herself with the 'girder'. 3. Feeling aggrieved by the aforesaid judgment/order of conviction/sentence, the appellants have filed the present appeal before this Court. 4. The appeal was admitted by this Court on 12.12.2001 and the sentence of the appellants was ordered to be suspended vide order dated 18.12.2001. 5. Learned counsel for the appellants does not challenge the judgment/order of the conviction/sentence on merits. However, he has prayed for reduction of sentence, so awarded, to the accused-appellants by taking a lenient view. The accused-appellants have already undergone one month and eighteen days of actual sentence and have suffered the agony of protracted trial for more than 12 years. Learned counsel for the appellants, in all fairness, contends that the appellants are also ready to compensate the complainant to assuage the feeling of wrong done. 6. In Balwant Singh and others v. State of H.P., 2008 Crl.L.J. 4683, the Hon'ble Supreme Court has observed as under: “It is to be noted that the High Court has imposed sentence of one year. Considering the age of the father-in-law and mother- in-law (A-1 and A-4) and the period of sentence already undergone by them while upholding the conviction, the Criminal Appeal No.1417-SB of 2001 -3- sentence is reduced to the period already undergone. The appeal stands dismissed so far as A-2 is concerned.” 7. Keeping in view the fact that the accused-appellants have suffered the agony of protracted trial for more than 12 years and have left themselves at the mercy of the Court and are also ready to pay compensation, therefore, in my considered opinion, no purpose would be served in further incarcerating them and the ends of justice would be met if their conviction under Section 498-A of the Indian Penal Code is maintained and the sentence awarded to them under this Section is reduced to the period already undergone. It is ordered accordingly. However, the fine is enhanced to Rs.15,000/- which shall be paid by each of the appellants besides the fine already imposed by the learned trial Court to be deposited before the learned trial Court within a period of three months to be paid to the complainant-Tarsem Lal. 8. In case of non-payment of amount of enhanced fine, the present appeal shall be deemed to have been dismissed. 9. With the above modification/direction, the appeal stands disposed of. ( JITENDRA CHAUHAN ) December 20, 2010 JUDGE SRM Note: Whether to be referred to reporter ? Yes/No