JAGTAR SINGH Vs. STATE OF HARYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The appellant and a few others were accused in a case under Section 302 read with Section 34 IPC. During the investigation of the said case, the appellant was arrested and suffered a disclosure statement on 23.8.1987 that he had kept concealed a .12 bore pistol and two empty cartridges under a Neem tree near the tubewell in his fields and he could get the same recovered. In pursuance of the said statement, the appellant got recovered the pistol and the cartridges, which were taken into possession by the police. The appellant did not produce any licence for keeping in his possession .12 bore pistol. Accordingly, FIR No. 174 dated 23.8.1987 under Section 25 of the Arms Act was registered against him at Police Station Baragudha.

(2.) Vide impugned judgment and order, learned Sessions Judge, Sirsa convicted the appellant under Section 25 of the Arms Act and sentenced him to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of one year and to pay a fine of Rs. 500/- and, in default of payment of fine, to undergo further rigorous imprisonment for three months. However, the substantive sentence was ordered to run concurrently with the sentence imposed upon him under Section 302 IPC by the trial Court vide judgment and order of the even date.

(3.) Learned Counsel for the appellant has not challenged the conviction of his client. However, he has submitted that the appellant remained in jail as an under trial for five months. He was again taken into custody on 11.5.1989 upon his conviction and sentence by the trial Court and remained in jail as a convict upto November 1989 when he was released on bail in the main case under Section 302 IPC. As such the appellant has already undergone a period of about eleven months out of the sentence of one year imposed upon him in the present case. It has also been submitted that the appellant has been facing the agony of criminal prosecution for the last about twenty three years and, therefore, no useful purpose would be served by sending him behind the bars for undergoing his remaining sentence.