VINOD KUMAR Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The applicant Sunder Lal and Vinod Kumar, the applicant in another application (No. 1948/84 in Cr. A. 203/1984) before us have been convicted under section 302 read with section 34, Indian Penal Code ., and section 397 Indian Penal Code ., and sentenced to imprisonment for life on the first charge, and to seven years' rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Bs. 500.00 on the second charge by the Additional Sessions Judge, Delhi. Now both have moved applications for the grant of bail pending the bearing of the appeals.

(2.) Learned counsel for the applicants have referred to the judgments of the Supreme Court where new light has been thrown on the question of granting bail in the case of persons convicted for murder to life imprisonment. It has been pointed out in Kashmira Singh v. The State of Punjab, AIR 1977, (SC) 2147 and Babu Singh and others v. The State of Uttar Pradesh, AIR 1978, (SC) 527, that the practice of the court refusing bail or suspension of sentence when persons were undergoing a sentence of life imprisonment needed to be reviewed.

(3.) It was also pointed oat that in many cases the appeals remained pending for a long time and no reasonable recompense could be given to persons who served a long period of imprisonment and were then acquitted.