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2026 Supreme(Online)(SC) 580
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
Pankaj Mithal, S.V.N. Bhatti, JJ
Haricharan Meena – Appellant
Versus
State Of Rajasthan – Respondent
Petition for Special Leave to Appeal (Crl.) No. 21165/2025
For the Appellants/Petitioners: Yadav Narender Singh
For the Respondents: Saurabh Rajpal, Vinay Kumar Singh, Malvika Raghavan, Ashzad Mubarak, Nidhi Jaswal
The court may exercise its discretion to suspend execution of a sentence during the pendency of a criminal appeal where there is a significant delay in the hearing of the appeal and the petitioner has already served a substantial portion of the sentence.
Headnote:The petitioner moved the court seeking relief from an impugned order of the High Court denying the suspension of sentence during the pendency of a criminal appeal. The petitioner, convicted under S. 354-A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and Sections 4/18 and 11(4)(5) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, had been sentenced to ten years of imprisonment. The court observed that the underlying appeal, filed in 2023, was unlikely to be heard in the near future. The primary issue before the court was whether the sentence of a convict should remain suspended where the appeal is pending for a significant duration. The court, keeping in view the fact that the petitioner had already undergone incarceration for over three years, determined that it was appropriate to exercise its discretion to suspend the sentence until the decision of the High Court appeal. The special leave petition stands disposed of in the aforementioned terms, with the sentence awarded by the Trial Court ordered to remain suspended during the pendency of the appeal.
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| 1. court grants suspension of sentence due to prolonged pendency of the appeal. (Para 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7) |
O R D E R
1. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the pleadings.
2. The petitioner has been convicted and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for ten years for the offence(s) punishable under Section 354-A of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and Sections 4/18, 11(4)(5) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012.
3. The petitioner’s criminal appeal is pending before the High Court but during the pendency of the same, his application for suspension of sentence has been rejected by the impugned order dated 10.10.2025.
4. The appeal pending before the High Court is of the year, 2023 and it may not be possible to have the appeal decided in the near future.
5. Therefore, in the facts and circumstances, keeping in view that the petitioner has already undergone more than three years of imprisonment, we consider it appropriate that during the pendency of the appeal before the High Court, the sentence awarded by the Trial Court shall remain suspended.
6. The present special leave petition stands disposed of in the above terms.
7. Pending application(s), if any, shall stand disposed of.
