1977 (9) TMI 117

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.... charge against the appellant for an offence under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code but he was acquitted of that offence by, the Sessions Court and hence the State preferred an appeal against the order of acquittal to the High Court. This appeal was allowed and the High Court set aside the order of acquittal and convicted the appellant of the offence under section 302 and sentenced him to suffer imprisonment for life. The appellant, thereupon, preferred a petition for special leave to appeal to this Court and special leave was granted to, him on 28th February, 1974. The, appellant filed an application for bail pending the hearing of the appeal, but the application was dismissed on 10th January, 1975. Since the appeal did not reach heari....

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....ndeed be a travesty of justice to keep a person in jail for a period of five or six years for an offence which is ultimates found not to have been committed by him. Can the Court ever compensate him for his incarceration which is found to unjustified ? Would it be just at all for the Court to tell a person : "We have admitted your appeal because we think you have a prima facie case, but unfortunately we have no time to hear your appeal for quite a few years and, therefore, ,until we hear your appeal, you must remain in jail, even though you may be innocent ?" What confidence would such administration of justice inspire in the mind of the public ? It may quite conceivably happen, and it has in fact happened in a few cases in this Court, that....