'Prima Facie Adopted Delay Tactics': Gujarat High Court Refuses To Suspend Narayan Sai's Life Sentence In Rape Case

The Gujarat High Court on Monday (May 4) dismissed Narayan Sai's plea seeking suspension of life sentence in a rape case, in which he was convicted by a Surat sessions court in 2019, prima facie noting that he was not interested in expeditious hearing of his appeal challenging conviction and had adopted delay tactics. On the applicant's contention that he had undergone 11 years of incarceration and there was delay in hearing of his criminal appeal, a division bench of Justice Ilesh J Vora and Justice RT Vachhani in its order noted:"It is no doubt true that, the applicant has undergone 11 years of his jail term. However, the fact remains that, since 2019 to till date, the applicant-convict has not cooperated in final hearing of the appeal. He had tried to get either temporary bail or permanent bail pending the appeal by filing numerous applications. In the year of 2021, while rejecting the bail application on merits, this Court has fixed the appeal for final hearing. However, it is on record that, the applicant-accused is never ready for hearing the appeal".The bench observed that even during hearing of the present application for suspension, when it asked the counsel for the applicant that the court is ready to hear the main appeal on "day-to-day bais", the counsel "upon instructions has stated that, she has only instructions to argue the application for suspension of sentence and after disposal of this application" and upon disposal of the application the applicant is ready to argue the main matter. "In such circumstances, the convict himself has created a situation for his long incarceration. In other words, the convict himself is the contributory factor for passing the time and thus, now he is not entitled to claim that, due to long incarceration and delay in hearing the appeal, he may be released on bail pending the appeal," the court added. In order to visualize the applicant's conduct in "adopting delaying tactics" the court referred to various applications filed by the applicant:(i) CRMA No.2 of 2020 in CRA No.1756 of 2019 withdrawn on 03.03.2021; (ii) CRMA No.2 of 2021 in CRA No.1756 of 2019 rejected on merits on 11.08.2021 and appeal was fixed in the month of November, 2021; (iii) CRMA No.2 of 2023 in CRA No.1756 of 2019, was not pressed on 18.10.2023 and appeal was fixed for final hearing on 16.01.2024; (iv) CRMA No.4 of 2024 in CRA No.1756 of 2019, withdrawn with a liberty to file fresh petition on 28.11.2024 as the appeal at relevant time was coming for hearing on 23.01.2025; (v) CRMA No.1 of 2025 in CRA No.1756 of 2019, filed for bail and suspension of sentence pending the appeal, wherein applicant had not pressed the relief of bail and suspension of sentence on 20.06.2025 and his prayer was confined to temporary bail.The court noted that the court last year had granted five days temporary bail on humanitarian ground and simultaneously, the appeal was fixed for final hearing on 11.07.2025. Thereafter the court noted, the applicant "as part of delay tactics" had challenged 11-8-2021 order passed in CRMA No.2 of 2021 as well as the order dated 20.06.2025 passed in CRMA No.1 of 2025 "which was in his favour" before the Supereme Court wherein vide order dated 28.11.2025 the applicant was granted liberty to file fresh application before the High Court. "The Supreme Court, while granting liberty, observed that, the High Court has failed to consider the merits on the earlier occasion. It is relevant to note that, on earlier occasion, three times i.e. on 18.10.2023, 28.11.2024 and 20.06.2025, the convict did not have pressed the order on merits and accordingly, the petitions filed by the convict came to be disposed of. The copy of the Special Leave Petition produced at Page no.80 of this application, the convict has nowhere mentioned that, on the last occasion, he had not pressed the application and did not invite reasoned order. In such circumstances, in our opinion, the applicant-convict is not interested at all in expeditious hearing of his appeal and by adopting delay tactics, he having tendency to file repeated applications which conduct itself disentitle the applicant for discretionary relief and same would be nothing, but a misuse of process of law. Thus, in our opinion, we do not find any merits in the ground of long incarceration and delay in hearing the appeal," the court said.The court however clarified that its observations in the order are "tentative and prima-facie in nature" and confined to adjudication of the suspension of sentence application only. "The proceedings shows that, because of Summer Vacation, the appeal is coming on 12.06.2026. We hope that, on that day, the applicant-convict shall proceed with the hearing of the appeal," the bench added.The application was rejected. Sai was convicted by the Sessions Court, Surat on April 30, 2019 for offences punishable under IPC Sections 376(2)(f) (being a relative, guardian or teacher of, or a...

'Prima Facie Adopted Delay Tactics': Gujarat High Court Refuses To Suspend Narayan Sai's Life Sentence In Rape Case

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