Supreme Court Suspends Sentence Of Zenito Cardozo In 2009 Siridao Gang War Case

The Supreme Court on November 6 suspended the sentence of gangster Zenito Cardozo until the disposal of his criminal appeal challenging his conviction and sentencing for culpable homicide not amounting to murder in the 2009 Siridao gang war case of Goa. A bench comprising Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice NK Singh issued notice, while passing an order suspending his sentence pending appeal against the Bombay High Court's order upholding his conviction under Section 304 Part II and Section 326 of the Indian Penal Code."In view of the attending facts and circumstances of the case, we are inclined to suspend the sentence imposed by the Trial Court vide judgment/order dated 29.07.2016 in Sessions Case No.41 of 2009, arising out of FIR No.31 of 2009, pending consideration of the appeal before this Court. Ordered accordingly."As per the brief facts, as stated by the petitioner, on May 10, 2009, he had gone to the Anastacia Beach Shack, Siridao, to collect a jeep at his sister's request. But he was forcibly called inside the shack by one Francis D'Souza@Miranda, who, along with Johnny Fernandes and Santosh Kalel, verbally abused, assaulted and physically manhandled him without any provocation. The assault turned into a violent group attack, and the Appellant acted in self-defence, which resulted in the death of two people. A cross FIR was registered against the persons who had assaulted the appellant, and after a trial, they were convicted under Section 326 IPC. As per the prosecution, the Appellant, with his associates, had attacked the other rival group members.The accused-appellant has challenged the Bombay High Court's judgment dated October 10, 2025, which upheld the Trial Court's order convicting him and sentencing him to 3 years of rigorous imprisonment under Section 304 Part II and another 3 years RI under Section 326, along with Rs.10,000 fine in 2016.On August 3, 2016, the Appellant filed a criminal appeal before the Bombay High Court, which, on August ,5 suspended his sentence until the disposal of the appeal. Similar appeals were also filed in the counter case. Both sets of appeals were dismissed by the High Court this year, and they were asked to surrender before the Additional Sessions Judge, Mapusa on or before November 10. Therefore, the present SLP.As per Cardoso's appeal, he claims to have acted in self-defence as the two people were attacking him and, therefore, to save himself, he attacked them. He has submitted that the High Court failed to appreciate that the entire prosecution's case, read with the evidence in the counter-case, unmistakably establishes that the Appellant was not the aggressor but the victim of a brutal and unprovoked assault. "The Petitioner acted purely in self defence to save his life from a mob attack involving sharp weapons, broken bottles, and repeated blows, which created a reasonable apprehension of death or grievous hurt within the meaning of Sections 96 to 100 IPC."Click Here To Read OrderAppearances: Mr. Mukul Rohatgi, Sr. Adv Mr. Atmaram N.s. Nadkarni, Sr. Adv. Mr. Salvador Santosh Rebello, AOR Mr. Michael Nazareth, Adv. Mr. Vibhav Amonkar, Adv. Ms. Devanshi Singh, Adv. Ms. Kritika, Adv. Ms. Moulishree Pathak, Adv. Ms. Manisha Gupta, Adv. Ms. Arzu Paul, Adv. Ms. Himanshi Nagpal, Adv. Ms. Deepti Arya, Adv.

Supreme Court Suspends Sentence Of Zenito Cardozo In 2009 Siridao Gang War Case

Gursimran Kaur Bakshi

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