Patna HC Rebukes Lower Court Judges, Imposes Fines for Wrongful Conviction

The Patna High Court has reprimanded two lower court judges in Bihar, imposing fines of a “token amount” on them for the conviction of an individual in a case that was deemed “not maintainable against him”.

The Judge

A single bench of Justice Bibek Chaudhuri passed the order, granting the petition of Sunil Pandit, a resident of Dalsinghsarai sub-division in Samastipur district, who had challenged the conviction by lower courts.

Pandit challenged an order from the additional sessions court in Samastipur, which in 2016 upheld the three-year rigorous imprisonment sentence imposed on him by the trial court.

The Case

The petitioner was named in an FIR lodged by a woman from the same village, accusing her husband of dowry harassment.

Justice Chaudhuri acquitted the petitioner, charged with offences under IPS Section 498A (cruelty against a woman by her husband or his relatives) and the Dowry Act, noting that the FIR clearly stated that the petitioner had been included as an “advisor of other accused persons” and he was “not a relative of the husband” against whom the aforementioned IPC section could be invoked.

The court instructed the judicial officers concerned, sub-divisional judicial magistrate, Dalsinghsarai, and additional sessions judge III, Samastipur, to deposit a “token amount” of Rs 100 each in the “criminal cash section” of the CJM’s Court.

Justice Chaudhuri further stated that the fine was being imposed due to the “mental agony, trauma, and social ignominy suffered by the petitioner” as a result of the “lackadaisical approach of both the courts below”.

“It is the bounden and obligatory duty of all courts to carefully go through the complaint and then to take cognizance and proceed against the accused persons in accordance with the law”, added Justice Chaudhuri.

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