Letendra Barman v. The State of Assam and Anr

ORDER Date : 04.04.2024 (M. Choudhury,J)

Heard Ms. D. Pathak, learned counsel for the applicant-appellant and Ms. S.H. Bora, learned Additional Public Prosecutor for the opposite party no. 1, State of Assam.

¶2The instant interlocutory application under Section 5 of the Limitation Act, 1963 is preferred seeking condonation of delay of 25 days, which is stated to have occurred in preferring the connected appeal against a Judgment and Order dated 27.12.2023 passed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Bilasipara, Dhubri ['the trial court', for short] in Sessions Case no. 40/2019. By the said Judgment and Order dated 27.12.2023, the applicant-appellant has been found guilty of charges under Section 302, Indian Penal Code [IPC]. For the offence under Section 302, IPC, the applicant-appellant has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 10,000/-, in default of payment of fine, to undergo simple imprisonment for 2 [two] months.

¶3We have gone through the statements and averments made in Paragraphs 3 – 6 of the instant interlocutory application where the applicant-appellant has sought to explain the period of delay.

¶4On going through the same, we are of the considered view that the applicant-appellant has been able to show sufficient cause for the period of delay of 25 days, which has occurred in preferring the connected appeal.

¶5Ms. S.H. Bora, learned Additional Public Prosecutor has fairly submitted that since the charge of murder for which the applicant-appellant has been found guilty by the learned trial court is serious, the connected appeal should be considered on merits.

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¶6In view of the above and for the reasons assigned, we are inclined to allow the instant interlocutory application. Accordingly, the instant interlocutory application seeking condonation of delay of 25 days preferring the connected appeal is allowed.

¶7The Registry to register the connected appeal and thereafter, list the appeal for admission.

J U D G E Comparing Assistant

PageoNo.#o1/3 GAHC010064572024 ooooooo ooooooooooooooo ooooooooooooooooTHEoGAUHATIoHIGHoCOURTo (HIGHoCOURToOFoASSAM,oNAGALAND,oMIZORAMoANDoARUNACHALoPRADESH)o CaseoNo.o:oI.A.(Crl.)/320/2024o LETENDRAoBARMANo S/OoLATEoKUNJAoMOHANoBARMAN,o VILL.-oISLAMARIo(SALKAPARA),o P.S.-oCHAPAR,oDIST.-oDHUBRI,oASSAM. VERSUSo THEoSTATEoOFoASSAMoANDoANR.o REP.oBYoP.P.,oASSAM, 2:BABULoDAS oS/OoLOKNATHoDAS o VILL.-oISLAMARIo(SALKAPARA) o P.S.-oCHAPAR oDIST.-oDHUBRI oASSAM oPIN-o783348o AdvocateoforotheoPetitionerooooo:oMR.oKoCoROYo AdvocateoforotheoRespondento:oPP,oASSAMoo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Page No.# 2/3 BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MANISH CHOUDHURY HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE ROBIN PHUKAN