A prisoner is not liable for penalties if prevented by sufficient cause from surrendering at the end of a parole period.

1. This application has been preferred by the State for grant of leave to appeal against the judgment dated 16-9-2004 passed by the learned Chief Judicial Magistrate, Sirmaur at Nahan whereby the respondent has been acquitted of the accusations under S. 8(2) read with S. 9 of the H.P. Good Conduct Prisoners (Temporary Release) Act, 1968 (hereafter referred to as 'the Act').

2. The accusations against the respondent are that on conviction under S. 302 of the Indian Penal Code he was undergoing life imprisonment in Model Central Jail, Nahan. On his application he has temporarily released on 42 days parole w.e.f. 17-5-2002 to 27-6-2002 and was to surrender himself in the Jail on 28-6-2002. The respondent, however, failed to surrender on the due date and instead surrendered on 24-7-2004 after an overstay of 26 days against the sanctioned parole period, hence, a complaint was lodged against him in the trial Court under S. 9 read with S. 8(2) of the Act and accordingly he faced the trial on the aforesaid accusations. On the basis of the evidence brought on record, the trial Court found the respondent not guilty and accordingly acquitted him. Hence, this petition.

3. I have heard the learned Deputy Advocate General for the applicant, who has read out the statements of the material witnesses, attested copies whereof are available with him and has also taken me through the judgment.

4. It does not appear to have been disputed even by the respondent that he was undergoing the sentence as claimed by the prosecution and was temporarily released on parole w.e.f. 17-5-2002 to 27-6-2002 and was to surrender himself on 28-6-2002 but in fact surrendered on 24-7-2002. His plea, however, is that he could not surrender on the due date because of illness and remained under treatment and had also telephonically conveyed to the Jail official that because of illness he was not in a position to surrender on due date but would surrender as soon as he was relieved of the illness.

5. To properly appreciate the matter, reference may be made to the relevant provisions of the Act. S.8 of the Act reads as follows:
"8. Liability of prisoner to surrender on expiry of release period and consequences of overstaying.-- (1) On the expiry of the period for which a prisoner is released under this Act, he shall surrender himself to the Superintendent of the Jail from which he was released.
(2) If a prisoner does not surrender himself as required by sub-section (1) within a period of ten days from the date on which he should have so surrendered, he may be arrested by any police officer without a warrant and shall be remanded to undergo the unexpired portion of his sentence.
(3) If a prisoner surrenders himself to the Superintendent of the Jail from which he was released within a period of ten days of the date on which he should have so surrendered, but fails to satisfy the Superintendent of the Jail that he was prevented by any sufficient cause from surrendering himself immediately on the expiry of the period for which he was released, all or any of the following penalties shall, after affording the prisoner a reasonable opportunity of being heard, be awarded to him by the Superintendent of the Jail, namely,--
(a) a maximum cut of five days' remission for each day of overstay.
(b) stoppage of canteen concession for a maximum period of one month;
(c) withholding concession of either interviews or letters or both for a maximum period of three months;
(d) the period of temporary release on furlough of the prisoner under S. 4 shall not be counted towards his sentence;
(e) wa