The principle of parity justifies the suspension of sentence when the roles of the accused are similar, allowing for appeal considerations.

ORDER :

ILESH J. VORA, J.

1. Rule. Learned APP waives service of Rule on behalf of respondent State. By consent, Rule is fixed forthwith.

2. By way of this application under Section 430(1) of BNSS, 2023, the applicant Shanabhai Bhurabhai Tarbada Kodi, seeks suspension of sentence awarded to him by the Sessions Court concerned for the offence punishable under Sections 302, 201, 365, 324 of the Indian Penal Code.

3. The present appeal and the application for suspension of sentence arise from the judgment dated 15.05.2023 and order of sentence passed in Special Atrocity Case No. 12 of 2021 (Old Special Atrocity Case No. 02 of 2020), whereby, the applicant herein was convicted and sentenced as under:

4. Facts and circumstances giving rise to file appeal as well as this application are that the complainant, being the eldest brother amongst other siblings, is married to one Bhavnaben D/o. Sureshbhai, a resident of Bhanadra. Further, it is the case of the prosecution that on 10^th December 2019, the complainant was at her in-laws place and was resting in his room. At about 11:00 p.m., somebody knocked the door and when the complainant opened the door, he found two persons on the other side of the door; one was his cousin (maternal uncle’s son), namely, Mihir Shaileshbhai Tadvi and one another unknown person. Thereafter, Mihir Shaileshbhai told the complainant that the accused no.1 - Hiteshbhai Shanabhai wanted to see the complainant and they are waiting outside in the car, and since they had not seen the in-laws house of the complainant, they took Mihir to help them with the direction of the complainant in-law house. Thereafter the said unknown person caught hold of the complainant and pushed him towards the car, wherein, the complainant found the accused no.1 - Hitesh, accused no.2 – Prakash Shanabhai Tarbada Kodi (present applicant-convict) and one unknown fat person. They all forced and pushed the complainant inside the car and before the complainant started shouting, the driver, i.e. the accused no.1 – Hitesh, speed up the car and fled away.

It is further case of the prosecution that thereafter, the complainant was thrown at the back seat of a Travera SUV car, and the accused no.2 – Prakash Shanabhai Tarbada Kodi (applicant-convict) pulled out a knife and inflicted an injury on the head and cheeks of the complainant, as a result of which, he was bleeding profusely. Thereafter, when the car reached at Naswadi, at that point of time, the accused no.2 – Prakash Shanabhai Tarbada Kodi (applicant-convict) called his father accused no.3 - Shanabhai and told him that they have held the complainant and asked him to join them near Khodiya Village. Thereafter upon reaching at the location, the accused no.1 – Hitesh maneuvered the car and pulled it inside a ‘kaccha’ road between Khodiya and Panaj village and stopped the car at a deserted spot. Soon thereafter, the accused no.3 - Shanabhai also reached there between 1:00 am & 2:00 am and thereafter it is alleged that one unknown fat person pulled out the complainant from the car, and exactly at that time, Mihir was seen talking on phone with someone, seeing that the accused no.1 - Hitesh shouted “caught hold of Mihir, he is talking to someone”, and thereafter the accused no.1 - Hitesh, accused no.3 - Shanabhai and one unknown person, caught hold of Mihir and started beating him.

It is the case of the prosecution that as the complainant was caught hold of by the accused no.2 – Prakash Shanabhai Tarbada Kodi (applicant-convict), the complainant pushed him and ran away towards an open field in the dark and reached towards a spotted room at some distance from the place of the incident. The complainant further alleged that he woke up a person sleeping inside the house and narrated the entire incident before him, who is the