'Pendency Of Criminal Appeals In MP HC Quite High, Early Hearing Unlikely' : Supreme Court Suspends Sentence

Citing the high pendency of criminal appeals in the Madhya Pradesh High Court and the unlikelihood of an early hearing of an appeal filed in 2024, the Supreme Court recently suspended the sentence of a convict who was sentenced to five years imprisonment in a cheating case.

The convict, convicted for the offences punishable under Sections 407, 420, 468, 471, 34 of the Indian Penal Code,  appealed to the Supreme Court aggrieved by the High Court's refusal to suspend the sentence.

A bench comprising Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Sandeep Mehta noted that the maximum term of punishment for the offences committed by the convict was 5 years and he has already undergone eight months' custody.

"Pendency of criminal appeals before the High Court is quite high and the possibility of the appeal being heard in the near future is fairly remote. There is, thus, a genuine apprehension in the mind of the appellant that his appeal could be rendered infructuous by passage of time without the same being taken up for consideration," the bench observed.

The Supreme Court criticised the High Court's approach and said that it ought to have fixed a date for the hearing of the appeal when the appellant applied for suspension of sentence the second time. Declining the relief gave rise to the appeal to the Supreme Court "unnecessarily", the bench lamented.

While suspending the sentence, the bench directed the appellant to actively pursue the appeal before the High Court. If the appellant abstains from arguing the appeal, it would be open for the High Court to cancel the bail.

Appearances for the appellant : Mr. Nitin Saluja, AOR, Mr. Harsh Gattani, Ms. Pranya Madan.

Case : Abhay Jaiswal v. State of Madhya Pradesh

Citation : 2024 LiveLaw (SC) 952

Click here to read the order

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