Criminal Revision No. 447 of 1996 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Criminal Revision No.447 of 1996 Date of decision: April 01, 2008 Mohan Lal … Petitioner Versus U.T. Chandigarh … Respondent CORAM: HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA Present: Mr. Bipan Ghai, Senior Advocate with Mr. Sandeep Mann, Advocate for the petitioner. Mr. Hemant Bassi, Counsel for U.T. Chandigarh. KANWALJIT SINGH AHLUWALIA, J. (Oral) Mr.Bipan Ghai assisted by Mr.Sandeep Mann at the outset has stated that he will not be able to assail his conviction and will only pray that since occurrence pertains to year 1986, petitioner has suffered protracted trial of 22 years, therefore his sentence should be reduced to already undergone. He has further submitted that the petitioner, who was working as Clerk in the Post Office and was acting as Sorting Assistant has already lost his job and therefore, by the stray incident when he had opened a parcel, he has been punished and loss of job from the Government has made him realize his fault. Briefly stated, case of the prosecution is that on 27th - 28th November, 1986, petitioner was working as Sorting Assistant in the Parcel Branch. When he was working in Set No. 111, it was found that the present petitioner Mohan Lal removed one lady overcoat from a parcel and he was seen going outside the office. It is stated that accused Mohan Criminal Revision No. 447 of 1996 2 Lal came after 5-7 minutes and had concealed the lady overcoat in the bushes. Prosecution examined six witnesses, which include senior and co- employees of the petitioner who had no motive to falsely implicate the petitioner. Since both the courts below have placed implicit reliance on the testimony of witnesses and have held that the petitioner is guilty of the offence, this Court cannot re-evaluate and re-appreciate the evidence. Furthermore, the counsel has very vehemently stated that he will not challenge his conviction. This Court cannot loose sight of the fact that in the present case, occurrence pertains to year 1986. About 22 years are going to elapse and the petitioner, who was posted as Clerk had taken an overcoat from a parcel and had concealed the same and the coat was also immediately recovered within short duration of 10-15 minutes. Since the petitioner has also lost his job, interest of justice will be fully met in case his sentence is reduced to already undergone. With these observations, present revision petition is disposed off. [Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia] Judge April 01, 2008. rps