(1.) The appeal is preferred by appellants 1 to 9 on being aggrieved by the judgment of the High court convicting the first appellant under Section 494 Indian Penal Code and sentencing him to imprisonment for a period of 5 years in addition to pay a fine of Rs. 1,500. 00, in default to suffer imprisonment for 3 months and also convicting appellants 2 to 9 under section 494 read with Section 109 Indian Penal Code for having abetted the offence of bigamy and sentencing them to undergo imprisonment till rising of the court in addition to pay a fine of Rs. 500. 00 (Rupees five hundred only) and in default to suffer imprisonment for one month. The High court dismissed the appeal preferred by the respondent/complainant as regards , accused 10 and 11. The allegation against the appellants is that the first appellant has contracted a second marriage with the second appellant while his marriage with the complainant was subsisting and remained unyoked. The trial court convicted all these appellants and also the other two (i. e. accused 10 and 11 but the first appellate court acquitted all of them. It was as against the order of acquittal, the 1st respondent/complainant preferred an appeal before the High court which allowed the appeal and convicted and sentenced the appellants as aforementioned. After hearing both the learned counsel and going through the records we do not see any compelling reason to interfere with the conviction recorded by the High court. The conviction is confirmed. Coming to the question of sentence, taking into consideration the fact that the offence was committed in the year 1975 and that the appellants haveundergone the ordeal of these proceedings well over for a period of 17 years, we feel that the ends of justice would be met by reducing the substantive sentence imposed on the first appellant to the period already undergone and accordingly we reduce the sentence. However, in lieu of the unserved portion of the substantive sentence, we impose an additional fine of Rs. 1,500. 00 in addition to the fine of Rs. 1,500. 00 already imposed by the court below thus making the total fine to Rs. 3,000. 00 and in default of the payment of the additional fine, the first appellant will suffer rigorous imprisonment for a period of three months more. So far as the appellants 2 to 9 are concerned, we see no reason to interfere either with the conviction or sentence. If the fine amount imposed by the High court as against the appellants 1 to 9 as well as additional fine amount of Rs. 1,500. 00 which we have imposed by this order is paid, the entire amount of Rs. 7,000. 00 shall be paid over to the first respondent, Rukminibai Ananda Jadhav.