SMT. SANTOSHI BAI Vs. STATE OF CHHATTISGARH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Appellant stands convicted under Section 304 IPC, without specifying whether it was under Part I or Part II, to life imprisonment by the First Additional Sessions Judge, Ambikapur in Sessions Trial No. 263 of 2000, dated 28.7.2001 for death of three persons who had consumed liquor mixed in a bottle with remains of a pesticide 'organocloro endosulfane'.

(2.) The present appeal was filed in the year 2001 and admitted on 4.9.2001. The Appellant was granted bail on 11.4.2002. It was adjourned at the behest of the Appellant on 26.6.2014 and on 12.4.2016 no one appeared on her behalf. Today also no one appears on behalf of the Appellant even while she continues to enjoy the privilege of the bail. The name of the Counsel appears in the cause-list and it has also been displayed on the Electronic LED Display that the case has been called out despite which there is no appearance.

(3.) Considering the age of the appeal, we are not inclined to adjourn it on that ground in view of the observations in (Surya Baksh Singh v. State of Uttar Pradesh, 2014 14 SCC 222) and have taken up the appeal for consideration with the assistance of the State Counsel.