* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI Reserved on: 17^th February, 2026.

Date of Decision: 23^rd March, 2026.

Uploaded on: 23^rd March, 2026.

+ CRL.A. 797/2025 & CRL.M.(BAIL) 1228/2025 VIRENDER ALIAS BABLU .....Appellant Through: Mr. Himanshu Anand Gupta, Ms.

Mansi Yadav, Mr. Shekhar Anand Gupta, Mr. Sidharth Barua, Mr. Mike Desai, Ms. Navneet Kaur and Ms.

Shivani Rampal, Advs.

versus STATE NCT OF DELHI .....Respondent Through: Mr. Ritesh Kumar Bahri, APP with Ms. Divya Yadav & Mr. Lalit Luthra, Advs.

+ CRL.A. 983/2025 & CRL.M.(BAIL) 1514/2025 VIKAS @ TINKU .....Appellant Through: Mr. Dhruva Bhagat, Adv.

versus STATE (NCT OF DELHI) ....Respondent Through: Mr. Ritesh Kumar Bahri, APP with Ms. Divya Yadav & Mr. Lalit Luthra, Advs.

CORAM:

JUSTICE PRATHIBA M. SINGH JUSTICE MADHU JAIN

JUDGMENT

MADHU JAIN, J.

BACKGROUND:

1. The present appeals have been filed under Section 415 (2) read with Section 528 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (hereinafter, ‘BNSS’)assailingtheimpugnedjudgmentofconvictionandorderonsentence dated 10^thMarch, 2025 and 27^th March 2025 respectively passed by the court of Ld. ASJ-05 North-West District, Rohini Court, Delhi whereby the Appellants have been convicted in Sessions Case No. 56/2017 arising out of FIR No. 732/2016 registered at P.S. Begumpur, Delhi under Sections 302/34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (hereinafter ‘IPC’) and wherein Appellant - Virender@Bablu has also been convicted under Sections 25/27 of the Arms Act, 1959.

2. By the impugned judgment of conviction and order on sentence, the Appellants have been sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life for the commission of offence punishable under Section 302 of the IPC along with a fine of Rs. 1,00,000/-. In default of payment of the said fine, they have been sentenced to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of 6 months. Further, AppellantVirender@BabluhasbeensentencedtoundergoImprisonmentfor a period of 3 years with fine of Rs. 5,000/-, for commission of offence under Sections 25/27 of the Arms Act, 1959. In default of the payment of fine, the concerned Appellant will have to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of 1 month.

3. It is pertinent to mention here that this is the second round of appeals being filed by the Appellants. Vide judgment dated 26^th March, 2024, both the Appellants were convicted for the offence under Section 302 IPC and accused Virender @ Bablu was additionally convicted for the offence under Sections 25/27 Arms Act,1959. Thereafter, vide order dated 6^th December, 2024, the Ld. Division Bench of this court in CRL.A.792/2024 and in CRL.A.913/2024, set aside the said judgment of conviction and order on Sentence dated 26^th March, 2024 and 30^th May, 2024 respectively, and remanded the matter back to the ld. Trial court for fresh arguments and pronouncement of judgment. The relevant portion of the order in CRL.A.792/2024 and CRL.A.913/2024 dated 6^th December, 2024 is extracted below:

“8. In the considered opinion of this Court, the impugned judgment of the Trial Court is sketchy to say the least as there is no discussion in respect of the evidence or the basis of the conclusions that the Trial Court has arrived at in the said judgment. In a case involving a serious offence such as an offence under Section 302 IPC, the ld. Trial Court is expected to analyse and appreciate the evidence whichhasbeenledanddrawitsconclusionsonlyon the basis of the same. The said reasoning being completely absent in the impugned judgment, the same cannot be sustained. In these circumstances, therefore,thisCourtisoftheopinionthatthematter deserves to be remanded for re-hearing of the final arguments and pronouncement of judgment afresh on the existing evidence and documents on record. 9. According to the respective nominal rolls on record, the Appellant in CRL. A. 792/2024 i.e., Vikas@Tinku has already undergone a period of approximately 3 years 7 months and the Appellant in CRL.A. 913/2024 i.e., Virender@Bablu has undergone approximately 5 year