RATTAN LAL Vs. STATE OF PUNJAB

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is a petition filed under Section 482 Cr.P.C., praying for the sentence awarded to the petitioner Rattan Lal in Criminal Revision No. 403 of 1987 and Criminal Revision No. 669 of 1986 to run concurrently.

(2.) FIR No. 911 of 1981 under Section 9 of the Opium Act was registered against the petitioner at police station Saddar Amritsar. He was tried and convicted under Section 9 of the Opium Act and sentenced to undergo RI for 1 year and to pay a fine of Rs. 500/-. In default of payment of fine, he was to suffer further RI for three months. The said judgment dated 10.2.1996 passed by the Judicial Magistrate, Amritsar, was challenged, which was upheld by this Court vide order dated 10.4.1997 in Criminal Revision No. 669 of 1986.

(3.) THE ground on which the petitioner seeks order under Section 427 Cr.P.C. for the aforesaid two sentences to run concurrently is that there was an inordinate delay in trial. The offences were committed 15-16 years prior to the conviction upheld in revision. Apart from it, it has been contended that the wife of the petitioner is an aged woman and having numerous health problems. A certificate of the attending doctor has been placed on record as Annexure P.3. The petitioner's wife was suffering from acute degree of diabetes and her left leg has to be amputated. An affidavit in this regard has been filed as Annexure P4. It was further alleged that the petitioner's undergoing sentence in earlier case was not brought to the notice of the court while subsequent sentence was passed and as such, the court could not pass any orders regarding the two sentences to run concurrently.