Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 – s.3(1)(xi) – Trial court convicted the respondent for an offence under s.3(1)(xi) and sentenced him to undergo 6 months RI with fine of Rs.500/- – Conviction was not disputed by the respondent before the High Court and only quantum of punishment was disputed – High Court modified sentence of 6 months RI to the extent of sentence already undergone, however, it enhanced the fine amount of Rs.500/- to Rs.3000/- – Appeal by State on the ground that sentence, less than minimum sentence, cannot be granted – Held: Where minimum sentence is provided for, the Court cannot impose less than the minimum sentence – The provisions of Art.142 of the Constitution cannot be resorted to impose sentence less than the minimum sentence – s.3(1) of the Act provides for a punishment for a term which shall not be less than six months but which may extend to five years and with fine – Therefore, High Court could not have awarded sentence less than the minimum sentence contemplated by the Statute – The order passed by High Court is set aside – The respondent is directed to undergo the remaining sentence imposed by the trial court for offence under s.3(1)(xi) of the Act – Sentence/Sentencing – Constitution of India – Art.142.
Narendra Champaklal Trivedi v. State of Gujarat (2012)
7 SCC 80 : [2012] 6 SCR 165; State v. Ratan Lal Arora (2004) 4 SCC 590 : [2004] 1 Suppl. SCR 631; Mohd. Hashim v. State of Uttar Pradesh and Others (2017) 2 SCC 198 : [2016] 9 SCR 953 – relied on
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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