EMPEROR Vs. DAHU RAUT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THESE are consolidated appeals by special leave from, four judgments of the High Court of Judicature at Fort William in Bengal dated respectively May 29, May 29, May 31, and June 7, 1933, which reduced the sentences passed on the respective respondents by the respective criminal Courts of first instance on March 25, February 28, April 1, and March 18, 1933.

(2.) IN each case the respective respondents presented petitions of appeal to the High "court against both the conviction and the sentence, in exercise of the statutory right conferred on them by the Criminal Procedure Code, and the question in the present appeals is whether the orders of the High Court in each of the four cases, by which the sentences were reduced, were in conformity with the requirements of the Code. The Crown, as appellant, maintains that the orders were passed in violation of the statutory provisions and were beyond the jurisdiction of the High Court. The Crown desires to test the validity of the procedure adopted by the High Court, but does not ask for any interference with the reduction of the sentences made by these orders.

(3.) THERE were slight variations in the form of the orders. In the case of two of the orders it was stated that the appeal was admitted, while a third order stated "this appeal is allowed on the question of sentence only" ; the fourth order is silent on this point. But all four orders are expressed as pronounced in exercise of the Court's criminal appellate jurisdiction.