Punjab & Haryana High Court Issues Notice On Habeas Corpus Plea Alleging Man Convicted And Detained But Sentencing Order Not Passed

The Punjab & Haryana High Court on Monday issued notice to itself on the habeas corpus petition filed by a 26-years-old who has been lodged in prison following dismissal of his appeal against conviction for criminal intimidation, allegedly in absence of a sentencing order.

The bench of Justice Anupinder Singh Grewal issued notice to the Joint Registrar of High Court, UT of Chandigarh and other authorities.

Ajit was convicted by the Chandigarh Magistrate for offences under Sections 323, 325 and 506 of IPC in 2017. He preferred an appeal against conviction and during this time his sentence was suspended.

Subsequently, on August 08, a dismissal order was orally pronounced and police officers were directed to take Ajit into custody. His counsel Vineet Kumar said this order has neither been uploaded nor a certified copy thereof has been supplied. It is alleged that Ajit is illegally detained as the judgement and quantum of sentence by ASJ Chandigarh is yet to be documented and supplied.

The counsel representing Ajit submitted that the quantum of sentence was never pronounced by the judge and the case status is reflecting as “dismissed.” “A bare perusal of the case status of CRA-664 of 2017 reveals that all zimni orders of the said case were uploaded, however the final judgment dated 03.08.2023 is yet to be uploaded by the Session Judge,” he added.

The plea states that such actions are in clear violation of Section 363 CrPC which stipulates that when an accused is sentenced to imprisonment, a copy of the judgment shall, immediately after the pronouncement of the judgment, be given to him free of cost.

The court staff of ASJ allegedly informed the clerk of the counsel that the judge and the judgment stenographer were on leave. Therefore, the judgment and quantum of sentence are yet to be authored and finalized, stated the plea adding, passing sentence without recording the judgment would be an illegality (Yakub Abdul Razak Memon v. State of Maharashtra (2013)).

The matter is listed for August 28, for further consideration.

Case Title: Ajit v. Punjab & Haryana High Court & Ors

Appearance: Vineet Kumar for the petitioner

Click here to read/ download the order