LawFinder 33948

LAW FINDER
Submitted By: Adv. Nilesh C Ojha

PDF downloaded from the online archives of Chawla Publications(P) Ltd.
Bachchu Singh v. State of Haryana, (SC) Law Finder Doc Id # 33948

1999(1) MadWN (Cri) 103 : 1999(1) R.C.R.(Criminal) 844 : 1999 AIR (Supreme Court) 2285 : 1999
CriLJ 3528 : 1999(1) Crimes 60 : 1999(9) SCC 81 : 1999(1) Scale 305 : 1999(1) JT 295 : 1999(1) AICLR
370 : 1999 SCC(Cri) 365 : 1999 ALL MR(Cri) 1272 : 1999(1) Andh LD (Criminal) 374 : 1999(38) ACrC
395 : 1999 Cri. L.R. (SC) 105 : 1999(1) ECrC 723 : 1999 AIR (SCW) 2348 : 1999(1) Supreme 384 :
1999(2) PLJR 2 : 1999(2) Apex Court Journal 42 : 1999(1) CLJ (Criminal) 315 : 1999(17) Orrisa Cri.
R. 196 : 1999 Cri. App. R (SC) 120
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
Before:- K. Venkataswami and S.S. Mohammed Quadri, JJ.
Criminal Appeal No. 145 of 1999 (Arising out of Special Leave Petition (Crl.) No. 2021 of 1998). D/d.
8.2.1999.
Bachchu Singh - Appellant
Versus
State of Haryana - Respondent
For the Appellant :- Dr. Surat Singh, Ms. Richa Goyal and Ms. Rani Chhabra, Advocates.
For the Respondent :- Mrs. Shikha Ray, Mr. S.K. Pabbi, Advocates for Mr. Prem Malhotra, Advocate.
Indian Penal Code, Section 409 - Public servant - Accused working as Gram Sachiv - Collecting
house tax from villagers and not depositing the same - It followed that accused dishonestly
misappropriated or converted the amount for his own use and committed breach of trust -
Held, accused was a public servant - Conviction under section 409 Indian Penal Code upheld.
[Para 5]
JUDGMENT
S.S. Mohammed Quadri, J. - Leave is granted.
2. The facts of the case, insofar as they are relevant for the disposal of this appeal, are as follows :
3. The appellant was working as Gram Sachiv for eight Gram Panchayats in the State of Haryana.
In the month of June, 1983, he was posted in Block Palwal. He collected a sum of Rs. 648/- from
thirty five villagers towards the house tax and executed receipts for the same. On the ground that
he did not remit the amount, prosecution was launched against him under Section 409 Indian Penal
Code. The learned Judicial Magistrate, First Class, Palwal, convicted him of the offence under Section
409 Indian Penal Code and sentenced him to six months' rigorous imprisonment and fine of Rs.
1,000/-. On appeal, the learned Additional Sessions Judge, by his judgment dated July 13, 1989, while
confirming the conviction and fine imposed on him, reduced the imprisonment till the rising of the
court. The appellant, however, challenged the said order passed in appeal before the High Court by
filing revision and contended that his advocate was not authorised to concede the conviction. The
High Court allowed the revision and remanded the case to the Appellate Court for fresh disposal. In
the Appellate Court, he filed additional evidence Exhibit D/3 and affidavits marked 'X' and 'Y' in
1/2
LAW FINDER
Submitted By: Adv. Nilesh C Ojha
PDF downloaded from the online archives of Chawla Publications(P) Ltd.
support of his plea that he had paid the amount in question to the Sarpanch, Ramkishan. The
Appellate Court disbelieved the additional evidence on the ground that Ramkishan was examined as
PW3 and he denied having received the said amount and observed that the additional evidence
was tailored at the instance of the appellant to bolster up his evidence. On December 10, 1997, the
Appellate Court dismissed the appeal confirming the conviction and sentence awarded by the
learned Judicial Magistrate and that order was upheld by the High Court on the revision of the
appellant on April 28, 1998. It is against that order of the High Court the appellant has come up in
appeal by special leave.
4. Dr. Surat Singh, learned counsel for the appellant, endeavoured to argue the case on merits but
in view of the limited notice issued, we asked him to confine his submissions to the question of the
nature of offence committed by the appellant on the facts found by the High Court.
5. From a perusal of the judgments of courts below, it is evident that the appellant is admittedly a
public servant; in that capacity, he collected Rs. 648/- from the villagers as house tax, his defence
that he paid the said amount to the Sarpanch was found to be false; it, therefore, follows that he
has dishonestly misappropriated or converted the said amount for his own use and thus committed
criminal breach of trust. As such, the ingredients of offence under Section 409 Indian Penal Code
have been established and he was rightly found guilty of that offence.
6. However, on the question of punishment, the appellant was awarded sentence of six months'
rigorous imprisonment and fine of Rs. 1000/- by the learned Magistrate. The imprisonment part was
reduced to the rising of the court by the Appellate Court in the first instance. For the reasons best
known to him, he challenged that order of the Appellate Court and got the case remanded to the
Appellate Court. After remand the sentence awarded by the learned Magistrate was restored. We
are told, he had already undergone four and a half months' rigorous imprisonment. Having regard
to the facts and circumstances of the case, in our view, interest of justice would be met by reducing
the sentence to the period already undergone without disturbing the fine of Rs. 1,000/- and we
modify the sentence accordingly. The appeal is thus disposed of.
2/2

LawFinder 33948

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

LawFinder 33948

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

LawFinder 33948

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

LAW FINDER

Submitted By: Adv. Nilesh C Ojha

Bachchu Singh v. State of Haryana, (SC) Law Finder Doc Id # 33948

You might also like

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.