Crl. Revision No.727 of 2003 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Crl. Revision No.727 of 2003 Date of Decision: March 25, 2010 Harish Kumar ........Petitioner Versus State of Punjab .......Respondent ****** CORAM : HON'BLE MRS. JUSTICE SABINA Present: Mr. Vinod Kumar Kataria, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. Amandeep Singh Rai, AAG, Punjab. SABINA, J. The petitioner was convicted for an offence under Section 406 IPC by learned Judicial Magistrate 1st Class, Ludhiana vide judgment dated 15.02.2002. Vide order of the even date, the petitioner was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for two years and to pay fine of Rs.5000/- under Section 406 IPC. Aggrieved by the same, petitioner preferred an appeal and the same was dismissed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Ludhiana vide judgment dated 25.02.2003. Hence, the present revision petition. The prosecution story in brief as noticed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge in para 2 of the impugned judgment reads as under :- “ Complainant-Ram Lal has been running the shop of gold smith in the Gold Smith (Sarafa) Bazar, Ludhiana. On 29.3.2000, the complainant was present at his Crl. Revision No.727 of 2003 2 said shop alongwith his brother Narinder Kumar, where came accused Harish Kumar with whose family the complainant has been dealing since the last about 30 years. Accused has also been working as commission agent in the above said bazar since the last about 2/3 years. He purchased from the complainant 100 tolas of pure gold at the rate of Rs.4450/- per tola (10 gms) and told him that he will pay its price to him within 10 minutes. After some time, there was a noise in the bazar that the accused had also taken 60 tolas pure gold from Sanjiv Kumar, 30 tolas pure gold from Rakesh Kumar and 115 grams and 210 mili grams pure gold from Avtar Singh. They all waited for the accused till the evening but he did not turn up. In the evening of the same day, a meeting of the respectables of the bazar was called in which Ashok Kumar and Banarsi Dass, the father and grand father of the accused respectively, promised to return the price of gold taken by accused Harish Kumar within two days, but they failed to fulfill their promise and that rather they left their house alongwith the family members. Harish Kumar has cheated the complainant and above said others persons in connivance with his family members and the total price of the said gold is Rs.10 lacs approximately. This case was registered on the above discussed statement of complainant on 4.4.2000.” Learned Counsel for the petitioner has not challenged the Crl. Revision No.727 of 2003 3 conviction of the petitioner under Section 406 IPC. Learned Counsel for the petitioner has submitted that the golden articles which had been allegedly misappropriated by the petitioner had since been recovered and returned to the owners. Petitioner has already undergone more than seven months of actual sentence. Petitioner was a young man aged about 22 years at the time of alleged occurrence and is facing the criminal proceedings since the year 2000. Learned Counsel for the petitioner has submitted that the sentence qua imprisonment of the petitioner be reduced to already undergone by him. Petitioner has an old aged ailing mother to look after. Keeping in view the facts and circumstances of the case, it would be just and expedient to reduce the sentence qua imprisonment of the petitioner to already undergone by him. Accordingly, the conviction of the petitioner under Section 406 of IPC is maintained. However, the sentence qua imprisonment of the petitioner is reduced to already undergone by him. Fine if not already deposited by the petitioner be deposited within two months from today, failing which, this petition shall stand dismissed. The revision petition stands disposed of accordingly. (SABINA) March 25, 2010 JUDGE Anand