KADARBHAI PIRUBHAI SHAIKH Vs. STATE OF GUJARAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Rule. Mr. Chapaneri, A.P.P. waives service.

(2.) The petitioner has submitted that he was arrested on 8/07/1978 for an offence under Sec. 302 I. P. Code, and he was convicted for the same on 30/01/1979 and was awarded life imprisonment. He has submitted that under Sec. 433A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which has come into force on 18-12-1978, he is deemed to have completed 14 years of imprisonment including remissions from the date of his arrest and, therefore, he is entitled to be released having completed the period of sentence. Section 433A of the Criminal Procedure Code come into force on 18-2-1978. Section 433A of the Cr. P. Code provides that where a sentence of imprisonment for life is imposed on conviction of a person for an offence, such person shall not be released from jail unless he had served at least 14 years of imprisonment. In the case of Maru Ram v. Union of India, AIR 1980 SC 2147, and it was held that every person who has been convicted by the sentencing Court before the commencement of Sec. 433A, i.e. 18/12/1978, is entitled to the benefit accruing from the remission scheme, as if Sec. 433A did not stand in his way. However, in the present case, Sec. 433A had already come into force before the sentence was imposed by the trial Court on the petitioner, and therefore, his case is governed by Sec. 433A of the Cr. P. Code and therefore, he cannot have the benefit of the law prevailing prior to Sec. 433A came into force on the ground that he was in custody as an undertrial prisoner prior to the commencement of the Section.

(3.) Hence this application for that relief must fail. Hence the application is dismissed. The Rule is discharged.