Court Can't Impose Time-Bar On Convict To Seek Sentence Suspension: Supreme Court

"…such kind of time-specific debarment is not envisaged by the law."

A Bench comprising Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Vikram Nath was dealing with an order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which had denied the prayer of the petitioner for suspension of execution of sentence at the given point in time.

The petitioner was convicted by the Sessions Court, Narnaul and sentenced to under life imprisonment for murder and one year for offence punishable under Section 25(1-B)(a) of Arms Act, 1959 with fine on both counts. The petitioner had filed an application before the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking suspension of sentence, primarily, on the grounds that -

1. the petitioner was not present at the time of the alleged offence and is wrongly implicated; and
2. the Trial Court did not properly consider the material on record.

On perusal of the impugned order, the Apex Court noted that while holding the application to be premature, the High Court had made an observation that the petitioner shall not further approach the Court before a minimum period of three years from the date of conviction. The relevant portion of the High Court order is as under -

"Now considering the application which is filed in CRM-5492- 2020 in CRA-D-103 of 2020, is concerned, we are of the considered opinion that the application is premature in nature and the same is required to be dismissed with an observation that he shall not approach this court before a minimum period of three years from the date of conviction."

Annulling the above-highlighted observation, the Bench clarified that seeking suspension of execution of sentence and to be released on bail are statutory rights. Therefore, no such time-specific debarment can be stipulated by a judicial order.

"...seeking relief of suspension of execution of sentence and to be released on bail is the statutory right of the appellant and there is no warrant for such a proposition that any appellant be debarred, from renewing his prayer for suspension of execution of sentence, for a particular period."

Case Title: Krishan Kumar v. State of Haryana SLP (Crl) No. 612 of 2022

Citation : 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 126