The court established that under Section 389 Cr.P.C., a suspension of sentence can be granted when the accused meets certain conditions, including the nature of the offense and the circumstances surrounding the case.

ORDER

1. Heard learned counsel for the appellant as well as learned Public Prosecutor. Perused the material available on record.

2. Admit. Issue notice.

3. Learned Public Prosecutor accepts notices on behalf of the respondent - State of Rajasthan. Hence, notices need not be issued.

4. Send for the record.

5. Heard learned counsel for the parties on the application seeking suspension of sentences (SoSA No. 885/2021).

6. Learned counsel for the appellant stated that the accused-appellant was convicted for the offence punishable under Section8/21 of the NDPS Act for a period of one year rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs. 10,000/-, in default of payment of fine to undergo additional one month imprisonment; that as per the prosecution, in the present case, total 05.30 grams brown sugar with the polythene bag was recovered from the accused-appellant which is below commercial quantity; that as per paragraph number 18 of the impugned judgment, during trial of the case, the accused-appellant was on bail; that hearing of the appeal will take time, therefore, it has been prayed that the application seeking suspension of sentences may kindly be allowed and the appellant-applicant be enlarged on bail.

7. Per contra, learned Public Prosecutor has opposed the application seeking suspension of sentences. However, he does not wish to file reply to the application.

8. Having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case, particularly to the facts that the recovered quantity is below commercial quantity; that the applicant-appellant was on bail during the trial of the case; that hearing of the appeal will take sufficiently long time, therefore, without expressing any opinion on the merits/demerits of the case, this Court is of the opinion that the application seeking suspension of sentences deserves to be allowed and the applicant-appellant deserves to be enlarged on bail.

9. Accordingly, the application for suspension of sentence (SoSA No. 885/2021) filed under Section 389 Cr.P.C. is allowed and it is ordered that the sentences passed by the learned Special Judge, N.D.P.S. Cases, Pratapgarh, Rajasthan vide judgment and order dated 16.12.2021 in Sessions Case No. 14/2021 against the appellant-applicant, Mohd. Hussain S/o Peer Mohammed, shall remain suspended till final disposal of the aforesaid appeal and he shall be released on bail, provided he executes a personal bond in the sum of Rs. 1,00,000/- with two sound and solvent sureties of Rs. 50,000/- each (out of which, one surety shall be of local resident of State of Rajasthan) to the satisfaction of the learned trial Judge for their appearance in this Court on 21.01.2022 and whenever ordered to do so till the disposal of the appeal on the conditions indicated below:-

1. That he will appear before the trial Court in the month of January of every year till the appeal is decided.

2. That if the applicant changes the place of residence, he will give in writing their changed address to the trial Court as well as to the counsel in the High Court.

3. Similarly, if the sureties change their address(s), they will give in writing their changed address to the trial Court.

10. The learned trial Court shall keep the record of attendance of the accused-applicants in a separate file. Such file be registered as Criminal Misc. Case related to original case in which the accused-applicants were tried and convicted. A copy of this order shall also be placed in that file for ready reference. Criminal Misc. file shall not be taken into account for statistical purpose relating to pendency and disposal of cases in the trial court. In case the said accused applicants do not appear before the trial court, the learned trial Judge shall report the matter to the High Court for cancellation of bail.