Concurrent sentencing under Section 427 CrPC allowed where separate convictions and case facts justified running sentences together.

Concurrent sentencing under Section 427 CrPC was considered in relation to two separate convictions, one under the Customs Act and the other under the NDPS Act. The Court applied the principle that concurrency may be ordered having regard to the nature of the offences and the facts of the case. As the petitioner had not been released on bail or parole after conviction and had already undergone the sentence in the later case, the request was found justified. The sentence in the Customs Act case was directed to run concurrently with the sentence already undergone in the other case, extending the benefit of concurrent sentences.

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Issues: Whether the sentences awarded in two separate criminal convictions could be directed to run concurrently under Section 427 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

Analysis: The petitioner had been convicted in one case under Section 135 of the Customs Act, 1962 and in another case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985. The Court noted that the petitioner had not been released on bail or parole after conviction and had already undergone the sentence in the later case. Relying on the principle that concurrent running of sentences may be ordered having regard to the nature of the offences and the facts of the case, the Court found the request justified and entitled the petitioner to concurrency of the sentences.

Conclusion: The sentence in the Customs Act case was directed to run concurrently with the sentence already undergone in the other case, and the petitioner was held entitled to the benefit of concurrent sentences.

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