SURENDRA SINGH Vs. STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) WE have three Appellants before us. All were prosecuted for the murder of one Babu Singh. Of these, Surendra Singh alone was convicted of the murder and was sentenced to death. The other two were convicted under Section 325, Indian Penal Code. Each was sentenced to three years' rigorous imprisonment and to fine Rs. 200.

(2.) ALL three appealed to the High Court at Allahabad (Lucknow Bench) and the appeal was heard on 11th December, 1952, by Kidwai and Bhargava, JJ. Judgment was reserved. Before it could be delivered Bhargava, J, was transferred to Allahabad. While there he dictated a "judgment" purporting to do so on behalf of himself and his brother -Judge, that is to say, it purported to be a joint judgment: he used the pronoun "we" and not "I". He signed every page of the "judgment" as well as at the end but did not date it. He then sent this Kidwai, J., at Lucknow. He died on December, 1952, before the judge on 5th January, 1953, his brother Judge Kidwai, J., purported to deliver the "judgment" of the Court. He signed it and dated it. The date he placed on it was 5th January, 1953 Bhargava, J.'s signature was still there and anyone reading the judgment and not knowing the facts would conclude that Bhargava, J., was a party to the delivery on 5th January, 1953. The appeal was dismissed and the sentence of death was confirmed, The question is whether this ''judgment" could be validly delivered after the death of one of the two Judges who heard the appeal.

(3.) DELIVERY of judgment is a solemn act which carries with it serious consequences for the person or persons involved. In criminal case it often means the difference between freedom and jail, and when there is a conviction, with a sentence of imprisonment, it alters the status of a prisoner from an under trial to that of a convict; also the term of his sentence starts from the moment judgment is delivered. It is therefore necessary to know with certainty exactly when these consequences start to take effect. For that reason rules have been drawn up to determine the manner in which and the time from when the decision is to take effect and crystallise into an act which is thereafter final so far as the Court delivering the judgment is concerned.