JUDGMENT :

C.T.RAVIKUMAR, J.

This Special Leave Petition is filed assailing the judgment and order dated 19.7.2018 of the High Court of Chhattisgarh at Bilaspur in Criminal Appeal No. 110/2015 whereby and whereunder the conviction of the petitioner under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code (for short ‘IPC’) was confirmed, but the sentence therefor, was reduced from 12 years to 7 years of rigorous imprisonment. Notice was issued on 04.03.2022. However, the said order and the subsequent order dated 21.03.2022 would reveal that it was, in troth, a limited one.

Leave Granted, accordingly.

A short prelude may be profitable for a proper consideration of the limited question (which we intend to go into) viz., whether the appellant is entitled to compensation for being kept in prison beyond the period of sentence and thereby sustained deprival of personal liberty.

1. While parting with the decision in Rudul Sah’s case1, this Court made a fervent hope -

“This order will not preclude the petitioner from bringing a suit to recover appropriate damages from the state and its erring officials. T