JUDGMENT :

A.S. SUPEHIA, J.

Since the order dated 15.05.2023, passed by the Supreme Court in Misc. Application No.790 of 2023 for taking and deciding the appeal within a period of two months has been pointed out, we are deciding the main appeal.

1. The present appeal emanates from the judgement of conviction and order of sentence dated 11.06.2019 passed in NIA Special Case No.1 of 2018 by the Court of City Sessions Court at Ahmedabad. The appellant-accused is convicted for the offences punishable under Sections 3(1), 3(2)(a) and 4(b) of the Anti-Hijacking Act, 2016 (for short “the Act”) and whereby he has been sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life, which shall mean imprisonment for the remainder of his natural life, and is also further ordered to pay fine to the tune of Rs.5,00,00,000 (Rupees Five Crores only) under Section 4(b) of the Act. Further, from the amount of fine recovered from the accused, the Captain and First Officer of Flight No.9W-339, being Mr.Jay B. Jariwala and Mr.Ashutosh Nevase respectively are awarded amount of Rs.1,00,000/- each, the crew members - Ms.Nitika Joneja and Mr.Mohit Tyagi are ordered to be given an amount of Rs.50,000/- (Rupees Fifty Thousand only) each and all remaining crew members and passengers of the flight are ordered to be given Rs.25,000/- (Rupees Twenty Five Thousand only) each towards the compensation. Over and above the said sentence, the movable properties of the accused seized by the Investigating Officer are ordered to be confiscated and forfeited under the provisions of Section 19 of the Act.

BRIEF FACTS:

2. The case of the prosecution in nut-shell is that on 30.10.2017, one Ms.Shivani Malhotra, a cabin crew member in the Delhi bound Jet Airways Flight No.9W-339, which departed from Mumbai at 02:55 a.m., and after its departure at about 03:20 a.m. she found a Note containing threat typed in Urdu and English languages.

3. As per the case of the prosecution, the said Note was further shown to the pilot and ultimately, he immediately contacted the Air Traffic Control, Ahmedabad for emergency landing and upon receiving appropriate instructions for landing at Ahmedabad Domestic Airport, the aircraft landed at Ahmedabad. The prosecution has alleged that the appellant had written the threat-note, which contained threat credible in nature and accordingly, he committed the act of hijacking, which ultimately forced the aircraft to land in Ahmedabad. An F.I.R. being C.R. No.I-85 of 2017 was registered against the accused at DCB Police Station, Ahmedabad and statements of the relevant witnesses were recorded and thereafter, the accused was arrested on the same day by DCB Police Station, Ahmedabad i.e. on 30.10.2017.

4. Initially, the investigation was undertaken by the local Police Station i.e. Gujarat Police and thereafter, the same was transferred to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) vide order dated 07.11.2017 written by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, which further carried the investigation and it reregistered an F.I.R being RC-16/2017/NIA/DLI on 07.11.2017 (Exh.112), after obtaining sanction from the Central Government under Section 15 of the Act to prosecute the accused in connection with the alleged commission of offence of hijacking of the aircraft. The NIA thereafter examined the evidence both – electronic and oral and, filed charge-sheet (Exh.9) dated 10.07.2018. As per the charge, the aircraft was made to land in emergency considering the credibility of the threat contained in the threat-note. The Court below, after examining the witnesses, 27 in number, as well as the documentary evidence convicted and sentenced the accused as mentioned hereinabove.

SUBMISSIONS ON BEHALF OF THE APPELLANT:

5. Learned Senior Advocate Mr.Chaudhari appearing on behalf of the appellant - convict has, at the outset, submitted that the language contained in the Note will not ipso facto satisfy the provisions of Section 3(2)(a) of the Act. It is submitted that in fact, there was no