S.427 CrPC | Delhi High Court Directs Sentence Of Man Convicted For Rape And Abetment Of Suicide To Run Concurrently, Not Consecutively

Justice Tushar Rao Gedela of the Delhi High Court on Tuesday granted benefit of Section 427 Cr.P.C. to a man convicted of rape (S. 376 IPC) and abetment of suicide (S. 306 IPC), holding that the causal facts giving rise to the two offences were intrinsically intertwined and could not be segregated into two distinct sets.

The judgment came to be passed in response to an oral application made by the appellant-accused to the effect that his two sentences (RI for 10 years u/s 376 IPC and RI for 7 years u/s 306 IPC) be directed to run ‘concurrently’ instead of ‘consecutively’.

The appellant, having undergone more than 7.5 years of imprisonment, also submitted that if his prayer for conversion of sentence was granted, he would not pursue the appeal.

Pithily put, Section 427 Cr.P.C. provides that a subsequent sentence of imprisonment shall commence at the expiration of the previous term of imprisonment, unless the court directs that it shall run concurrently.

After a thorough analysis of the provision, the court opined that the jurisdiction conferred was purely discretionary and could be exercised by it.

On going through the facts of the case, it came to the following conclusion:

“To this Court, it appears that the committing of suicide by the deceased was as a consequence and result of the trauma, humiliation, shame that the deceased felt during the interregnum when the applicant/appellant was committing the offence under section 376 IPC over a period of time.”

The court also highlighted that the prosecution’s case was not that the deceased committed suicide on any independent or unconnected factor, having no relation to the appellant or the offence u/s 376 IPC.

Notably, the case was registered following death by suicide of a 30-year-old married woman, who worked with the appellant and was statedly raped by him on multiple occasions. On establishing of the charges, the appellant was convicted. His sentences were directed to run consecutively.

Before Justice Gedela, counsel for the appellant argued that the committing of suicide by the deceased was directly related to the alleged offence u/s 376 IPC. Thus, even if assumed to be true, the two offences formed part of the same transaction.

On the other hand, APP for State contended that the two offences were distinct in nature, and the deceased ended her life on account of shame as well as owing to the threats extended by the appellant for establishing physical relations with him. It was pressed that considering the gravity and nature of the offences, the benefit of Section 427 Cr.P.C. ought not be granted to the appellant.

After hearing rival contentions, the appellant’s prayer was granted and the appeal dismissed as not pursued.

Mr. M.L. Yadav, Advocate appeared for appellant

Mr. Shoaib Haider, APP with Insp. Kusum Dhama, PS- Women Cell/South Distt. and Insp. Asha, PS-Kapashera appeared for respondent

Case Title: Ajay Kumar v. The State NCT of Delhi

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Del) 1040

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