JUDGMENT :

ABHAY S. OKA, J.

FACTUAL ASPECTS

1. The appellant has been convicted for the offences punishable under Sections 333, 353 and 451 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (for short ‘IPC’). The Sessions Court convicted the appellant for all three offences. For the offences punishable under Sections 451 and 353 of the IPC, the appellant was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for one year each and for the offence punishable under Section 333 of IPC, he was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for two years with a fine of Rs. 2,000/-. By the impugned judgment, the High Court while upholding the conviction, brought down the substantive sentence to rigorous imprisonment for six months for each of the three offences. On 9th May 2023, this Court issued a notice confined only to the sentencing part.

SUBMISSIONS

2. The learned counsel appearing for the appellant firstly submitted that considering the facts of the case, the appellant deserves to be granted the benefit of probation under Section 360 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short ‘Cr.P.C.’) and/or the Probation of the Offenders Act, 1958. Secondly, he submitted that the incident complained occurred on 1st Dece