1. The appellant, who is the original accused no.2, has preferred this appeal against the judgment and order of conviction for the offences punishable under Sections 353, 333, 395 and 397 passed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Solapur in Sessions Case No.29 of 2001. He was sentenced to undergo R.I. for one year and to pay fine of Rs.1,000/- and in default further S.I. for 3 months for the offence punishable under Section 353 of the I.P.C. For the offences punishable under Sections 333 and 395 he was sentenced to undergo R.I. for 5 years and to pay fine of Rs.3,000/- and in default S.I. for one year and 3 months on each count. For the offence punishable under Section 397 of the I.P.C., he was separately sentenced to undergo R.I. for a period of two years and to pay a fine of Rs.5,000/- and in default S.I. for 15 months.

2. At the outset, it may be stated that in view of conviction of the accused/appellant for the offence punishable under Section 397 and a sentence of R.I. for 2 years only, which is less than minimum prescribed by the law, this Court had issued a Suo-Motu notice to the accused/appellant to show cause why the sentence for the