Statutory minimum sentence under Dowry Prohibition law cannot be reduced without recorded special reasons

Section 3 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 prescribes a minimum sentence of five years, and a lesser term is permissible only when the judgment records adequate and special reasons. A sentence of three months, later reduced to four days in revision, was treated as legally unsustainable because no such reasons were recorded and the punishment was grossly disproportionate to the offence. The conviction was left intact, but the punishment had to be reconsidered to comply with the statutory minimum and the requirement of recorded special reasons.

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Issues: Whether the sentence imposed for conviction under Section 3 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 could be sustained when it was far below the statutory minimum without recorded special reasons, and whether the revisional court was justified in reducing the sentence instead of correcting the inadequacy.

Analysis: The statutory scheme under Section 3 of the Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961 prescribes a minimum sentence of five years and permits a lesser sentence only for adequate and special reasons recorded in the judgment. The sentence of three months imposed by the trial court was found to be grossly disproportionate and unsupported by any recorded mitigating circumstance. The revisional court was expected to exercise its power to ensure that the punishment was commensurate with the offence and in accordance with law, rather than reducing the sentence to four days. The conviction under Section 3 was not disturbed; the controversy was confined to the legality and adequacy of the punishment.

Conclusion: The sentence could not be sustained in its reduced form, and the matter required reconsideration of the quantum of punishment in accordance with the statutory minimum and the requirement of recorded special reasons.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a statute prescribes a minimum sentence and permits departure only on recorded special reasons, a sentence below the minimum cannot stand unless such reasons are expressly recorded, and revisional interference must secure a punishment proportionate to the gravity of the offence.

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