GANGARAM DUSHANNA DANDIL Vs. STATE OF MAHARASHTRA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Rule on the criminal application. By consent of the parties criminal application is taken up for hearing alongwith Criminal Appeal No. 300 of 2007.

(2.) Gangaram Dushanna Dandil (appellant in appeal, hereinafter for convenience referred to as the applicant) is at present lodged in Kolhapur Central Prison. He was tried along with five others in Session Case No. 680 of 2003 by 12th Ad. Hock Additional Sessions Judge at Sewri. By judgment and order dated 28th August, 2006 learned Sessions Judge convicted the applicant under Sections 395, 396 and 452 of Indian Penal Code (I.P.C for short). For offence under Section 452 of the I.P.C he was sentenced to suffer Regerous Imprisonment (R.I.) for five years and to pay a fine of Rs. 3000/- and in default to suffer R.I for six months. For offence under Section 395 of the I.P.C the applicant was sentenced to suffer R.I for five years and to pay a fine of Rs. 3000/- in default to suffer further R.I for six months. For offence under Section 396 of the I.P.C the applicant was sentenced to suffer life imprisonment and also to pay a fine of Rs. 3000/- and in default to suffer further R.I for six months. Substantive sentences were ordered to run concurrently. The appeal preferred by the applicant has been admitted by this Court.

(3.) The applicant preferred the instant application through jail, in which he stated that at the time when the offence was committed i.e., on 28th May, 2003 he was a juvenile. Along with this application he forwarded to this Court a bonafide certificate issued by the school where he was taking education and a Community and Nationality, date of birth certificate issued by Tahasildar, Dist: Adilabad. The applicant's case is that he was only 13 years of age when the offence was committed.