Mandatory minimum sentences bar probationary relief in corruption convictions, and general criminal procedure cannot override the special penal scheme.

Probation under Section 360 of the Code of Criminal Procedure is unavailable for convictions under the Prevention of Corruption Act where the special statute prescribes a mandatory minimum sentence and no saving provision permits reduction below that floor. Section 18 of the Probation of Offenders Act excludes its operation for the corresponding corruption offence, and Section 8 of the General Clauses Act treats references in the earlier law as references to the re-enacted provisions. The practical effect is that general probationary relief cannot override the special penal scheme, and the sentence must remain within the statutory minimum.

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Issues: Whether the benefit of probation under Section 360 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 could be extended to convictions under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, and whether a sentence below the statutory minimum could be imposed.

Analysis: The Probation of Offenders Act, 1958, by Section 18, excluded its operation in relation to the corresponding offence under the repealed corruption law, and Section 8 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 required references in the earlier law to be read as references to the re-enacted provisions. On that basis, the bar against probation continued to apply after the enactment of the 1988 Act. Further, the offences under Sections 7 and 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 carried prescribed minimum sentences, and the Act contained no saving provision permitting reduction below that minimum. The High Court therefore could not invoke Section 360 of the Code to release the accused on probation or to go below the mandatory minimum punishment.

Conclusion: The benefit of probation was not available, and the sentence could not be reduced below the statutory minimum.

Final Conclusion: The conviction was maintained, but the imprisonment was modified to the minimum term prescribed by the statute, with the fine left intact.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a special penal statute prescribes a minimum sentence and contains no power to reduce it, probationary relief under the general criminal procedure law cannot be invoked, and references in earlier enactments to repealed provisions must be construed as references to the corresponding re-enacted provisions unless a contrary intention appears.

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