TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2007 (1) TMI 659
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.... has been allowed and the appellant has been convicted under Section 304 Part II IPC and has been sentenced to 3 years R.I. and a fine of rupees one lakh. The co- accused Rupinder Singh Sandhu has also been convicted under Section 304 Part II read with Section 34 IPC and has been sentenced to 3 years R.I. and a fine of rupees one lakh. He has further been convicted under Section 323 IPC and has been sentenced to 3 months R.I. The appellant filed special leave petition in this Court in which leave has been granted on 12.1.2007 and he has been released on bail and thus the execution of the sentence imposed upon him has been suspended. The appellant also moved an application for suspending the order of conviction passed against him by the High Court on which notice was issued to the State of Punjab and the said application is being disposed of by the present order. 2. The circumstances leading to the filing of the application for suspension of order of conviction need to be noticed. The appellant was a sitting Member of Parliament. Immediately after the pronouncement of judgment by the High Court, he resigned from the membership of the Lok Sabha. It is stated in the application tha....
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....Constitution Bench in K. Prabhakaran v. P. Jayarajan AIR 2005 SC 688 and it has been held that the protection against disqualification will be available only till the current life of the House (Parliament or the Legislature of a State) and the person continues to be a member of a House, and not thereafter. Since the appellant was a sitting Member of Parliament, he would not have incurred the disqualification as provided in Sub-section (3) of Section 8 of the Act, for a period of 3 months and if within that period he had filed an appeal until the decision of the appeal. Therefore, the appellant could have easily avoided the incurring of the disqualification by filing an appeal within three months from the date of his conviction by the High Court. However, he chose to resign from the membership of the Lok Sabha soon after he was convicted by the High Court and wants to seek a fresh mandate by contesting the election. 3. Before proceeding further it may be seen whether there is any provision which may enable the Court to suspend the order of conviction as normally what is suspended is the execution of the sentence. Sub-section (1) of Section 389 says that pending any appeal by a co....
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.... not suffer from a certain disqualification provided for in any other statute, it may exercise the power because otherwise the damage done cannot be undone; the disqualification incurred by Section 267 of the Companies Act and given effect to cannot be undone at a subsequent date if the conviction is set aside by the Appellate Court. But while granting a stay or suspension of the order of conviction the Court must examine the pros and cons and if it feels satisfied that a case is made out for grant of such an order, it may do so and in so doing it may, if it considers it appropriate, impose such conditions as are considered appropriate to protect the interest of the shareholders and the business of the company. The aforesaid view has recently been reiterated and followed by another Three Judge Bench in Ravi Kant S. Patil v. Sarvabhouma S. Bagali 2006 (12) SCALE 295. After referring to the decisions on the issue, viz., State of Tamil Nadu v. A. Jaganathan 1996 CriLJ 3495, K.C. Sareen v. C.B.I., Chandigarh 2001 CriLJ 4234, B.R. Kapur v. State of T.N. and Anr. : AIR2001SC3435 and State of Maharashtra v. Gajanan and Anr. 2004 CriLJ 919, this Court concluded (para 12.5 of the report)....
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....ief, is that at about 12.30 p.m. on 27.12.1988 Gurnam Singh (deceased) along with P.W.3 Jaswinder Singh and P.W.4 Avtar Singh were going to State Bank of Patiala for withdrawing some money for the forthcoming marriage of the son of the deceased. When the Maruti car which was being driven by Gurnam Singh reached near Sheranwala Gate Crossing, a Gypsy bearing No. PAD-6030 was found standing ahead of them. When Gurnam Singh tried to overtake the Gypsy, it turned and blocked the way, on which Gurnam Singh and others asked the occupants of Gypsy to move their vehicle. On this the appellant Navjot Singh Sidhu got out of the Gypsy vehicle and after abusing the occupants of the Maruti car, dragged out Gurnam Singh and gave fist blows to him. P.W.3 Jaswinder Singh wanted to save Gurnam Singh but co-accused Ravinder Singh Sandhu, who was also in the Gypsy, came out and gave fist blows to him as well. Thereafter, the appellant and co- accused Ravinder Singh Sandhu escaped in the Gypsy taking away the keys of the Maruti car. Gurnam Singh had fallen down and he was taken to Rajindra Hospital by Avtar Singh and Jaswinder Singh, where the doctors declared him dead. Jaswinder Singh then lodged an ....
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....ed nor the said mechanic has been examined as a witness and this completely falsifies the prosecution case. It has also been urged that the medical evidence on record does not at all disclose commission of an offence under Section 304 Part II IPC and even if the prosecution version of the incident is accepted in toto, it may at best amount to a case under Section 323 IPC in which the maximum sentence which can be awarded is 1 year R.I. and in such circumstances the appellant would not incur any disqualification under Sub-section (3) of Section 8 of the Act. 7. Though for the purpose of decision of the prayer made by the appellant for staying or suspending the order of conviction, it is not necessary to minutely examine the merits of the case, nevertheless we consider it proper to refer to the medical evidence, which has an important bearing on the nature of the offence alleged to have been committed by the appellant. 8. P.W.3 Jaswinder Singh was medically examined at 8.30 p.m. on 27.12.1988 and his medical examination report reads as under: 1. The patient complained of pain over the left side of the fore-head and slight giddiness. Tenderness was present. 2. ....
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.... cardiac death under stress. 9. Some observations made by the learned Sessions Judge regarding the head injury sustained by the deceased deserve notice and they read as under: Furthermore, the all important blow on the head of Gurnam Singh was not specifically described in either Ex.PQ (FIR) or Ex.DB (Jaswinder Singh's statement dated January 20 1993, recorded by the Addl. Sessions Judge Patiala at the pre 319 Cr.P.C. stage). This was an important omission since it was the injury on the head which was alleged to be one of the causes of death.... The High Court has not adverted to this aspect of the case, viz, that in the FIR it was not specifically mentioned that the appellant Navjot Singh Sidhu had given the blow on the head of the deceased. This fact was also not stated by Jaswinder Singh in his statement before the learned Sessions Judge which was recorded on 20.1.1993 before the order had been passed under Section 319 Cr.P.C. summoning the appellant. 10. We have pointed out above the broad features of the case. The incident happened all of a sudden without any pre-meditation. The deceased was wholly unknown to the appellant. There was no motive for commiss....
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.... merely filing an appeal within a period of 3 months and had he adopted such a course he could have easily avoided incurring any disqualification at least till the decision of the appeal. However, he has chosen to adopt a moral path and has set high standards in public life by resigning from his seat and in seeking to get a fresh mandate from the people. In the event prayer made by the appellant is not granted he would suffer irreparable injury as he would not be able to contest for the seat which he held and has fallen vacant only on account of his voluntary resignation which he did on purely moral grounds. Having regard to the entire facts and circumstances mentioned above we are of the opinion that it a fit case where the order of conviction passed by the High Court deserves to be suspended. 12. Shri Sushil Kumar, learned senior counsel for the State of Punjab has submitted that the case in hand cannot be called as a rare case where an order for suspension of conviction should be passed. Learned Counsel has also submitted that the appellant having given up his rights under Sub-section (4) of Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act and having himself resigned from th....
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....tions and the decision of doubts and disputes arising out of or in connection with such elections. The Act provides not only the eligibility and qualification for membership of the House of People and Legislative Assembly but also for disqualification on conviction and other matters. The Parliament in its wisdom having made a specific provision for disqualification on conviction by enacting Section 8, it is not for the Court to abridge or expand the same. The decisions of this Court rendered in Rama Narang v. Ramesh Narang and Ors. (supra) and Ravi Kant S. Patil v. Sarvabhouma S. Bagali (supra) having recognized the power possessed by the Court of appeal to suspend or stay an order of the conviction and having also laid down the parameters for exercise of such power, it is not possible to hold, as a matter of rule, or, to lay down, that in order to prevent any person who has committed an offence from entering the Parliament or the Legislative Assembly the order of the conviction should not be suspended. The Courts have to interpret the law as it stands and not on considerations which may be perceived to be morally more correct or ethical. 14. Shri Rakesh Dwivedi has also subm....