Plea bargaining and statutory minimum sentences must follow mandatory sentencing rules; time served cannot replace the required minimum fraction.

Where a customs prosecution involving gold carries a statutory minimum sentence, disposal through plea bargaining must comply with Section 265E(c) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. The court must impose the sentence required by that provision and cannot replace it with the period already undergone if that term is below the mandatory statutory fraction of the minimum sentence. In the stated facts, the accused had undergone only seven months, so the sentence of time served did not meet the statutory requirement. The sentence order was therefore unsustainable and the matter was remitted for fresh decision.

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Issues: Whether, after acceptance of plea bargaining in a customs prosecution carrying a statutory minimum sentence, the trial court could impose only the period already undergone instead of the sentence mandated by Section 265E(c) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

Analysis: The offence involved gold covered by Section 123 of the Customs Act, 1962, and the punishment then prescribed under Section 135(1)(i)(a) carried a minimum sentence of three years. In such a case, Section 265E(c) required the court, while disposing of the matter on plea bargaining, to award imprisonment at the prescribed statutory fraction of the minimum sentence. Since the accused had undergone only seven months, the sentence of period already undergone did not satisfy the statutory requirement.

Conclusion: The sentence imposed by the trial court was legally unsustainable and was set aside; the matter was directed to be re-heard and decided afresh.

Final Conclusion: The order on sentence could not stand because the mandatory sentencing framework under plea bargaining was not applied correctly, and the proceedings were remitted for fresh decision.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an offence carries a statutory minimum sentence, disposal under plea bargaining must conform to the sentencing mandate in Section 265E(c), and a court cannot substitute the sentence with the period already undergone if that falls below the legally required minimum fraction.

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