VINOD JASWANTRAY VYAS(DEAD) Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The instant appeal is directed against the judgment dtd. 13/2/2017 passed by the Division Bench of the High Court of Gujarat in Criminal Appeal No. 210 of 1997, whereby, the Division Bench partly accepted the appeal preferred by the accused appellant Vinod Jaswantray Vyas and altered his conviction as recorded by the trial Court for the offence punishable under Sec. 302 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860(hereinafter being referred to as 'IPC') to one under Sec. 304 Part I IPC and sentenced him to undergo eight years rigorous imprisonment and further directed that he shall pay a compensation of Rs.50,000.00to the heirs of the deceased.

(2.) Learned Additional City Sessions Judge, Ahmedabad (hereinafter being referred to as the 'trial Court') tried the accused appellant Vinod Jaswantray Vyas (Original accused No.1)(hereinafter being referred to as 'A1') and his co-accused Chinubhai Govindbhai Patel (Original accused No.2)(hereinafter being referred to as 'A2') for the offences punishable under Sec. 302 read with Sec. 114 IPC and vide judgment dtd. 4/3/1997, the learned trial Court proceeded to convict both the accused for the above offences and sentenced them to imprisonment for life and fine of Rs.25,000.00 each, in default, to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of two years.

(3.) A1 and A2 preferred separate appeals before the Gujarat High Court being Criminal Appeal Nos. 210 of 1997 and 226 of 1997 respectively, to challenge the judgment dtd. 4/3/1997 passed by the learned trial Court. A2 expired during the pendency of the appeal before the High Court. However, being a Government servant, the question of his conviction had a direct bearing on his death-cum-retiral benefits and thus, his legal heirs applied for and were granted permission to prosecute the appeal further. Both appeals were decided by a learned Division Bench of the Gujarat High Court vide common judgment dtd. 13/2/2017 and the learned Division Bench proceeded to affirm the findings of the learned trial Court holding that A1 and A2 had subjected Jeeva(deceased) to physical violence in police custody and thereby, the findings of guilt were affirmed. However, the offence was toned down from Sec. 302 IPC to offence under Sec. 304 Part I IPC and the sentence was modified as above.