JUDGMENT

Arijit Pasayat, J.—Leave granted.

2. Challenge in this appeal is to the Judgment rendered by a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court maintaining the conviction of the appellants while reducing the sentence of imprisonment.

3. The appellants were tried for commission of offence punishable under Section 420, 471, 120-B read with sections 466 and 468 of Indian Penal Code, 1860 (in short the "Code").

4. The allegations which led to the trial are essentially to the effect that appellant No.1 secured admission to the Medical College, Thiruvanthapuram on the basis of forged mark-sheet. The appellant No.1 had appeared for the Second year Pre-Degree Examination held by the Kerala University and had secured only a IInd class.

5. Having secured 513 out of 1000 marks she could not have secured admission to the Medical College. She joined a degree course with Chemistry as the main subject and Physics and Mathematics as subsidiary subjects. After graduation, she continued to nurse the ambition to join the Medical College. She filed forged mark-sheets by showing that in the Chemistry main examination she had secured 491/600, though she had secured only 287/600. Similarly, for Mathematics