STATE OF PUNJABversusBABU SINGH

                                STATE OF PUNJAB                                    A
                                           v.
                                    BABU SINGH

                                   APRIL 16, 1991

             [LALIT MOHAN SHARMA AND J.S. VERMA, JJ.]                              B

           Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973: Section 433A-Life convict
       -Premature release of-Whether permissible-Mercy Petition pending
       -High Court releasing convict on bail-Validity of order.

              On the application for pre-mature release, made by the respon-
  '    dent, who was undergoing sentence of life imprisonment and had served
                                                                              c
       a period of eleven and a haH years the High Court directed that the
       respondent's mercy petition pending before the Governor, should be
       decided within three months. Since this was not done, the High Court
       directed his release on bail, observing that if his mercy petition was
       dismissed he would have to surrender. Against this decision the State D
       filed an appeal before this Conrt.

,.           Allowing the appeal, this Court,

             HELD: The High Court has not taken into consideration the pro-
       visions of Section 433A of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 while E
       passing the order for the respondent's release on bail. The judicial
       proceeding dealing with the conviction and sentence of the accused had
       been earlier concluded, and the order was passed while finally disposing
       of the writ petition alleging delay in disposal of the mercy petition. Thus,
       no case is now pending before the court. The order for the respondent's
       release on bail has not'thdefore, been passed as an interim measure F
       pending the decision of a case before the Court. In such a situation
       the provisions of Section 433A are attracted. The words "such per-
       son shall not be released from prison" are wide in their application
       and cannot be restricted only to cases where the person has been
       released finally.
                                                                                    G
..,.         The judgment in question is set aside and the case remitted to the
       High Court for reconsideration of the writ petition confined to its
       limited scope.

            CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Criminal Appeal
       No. 294 of 1991.                                      H

                                          421
    422                   SUPREME COURT REPORTS            [1991) 2 S.C.R.

A       From the Judgment and Order dated 10.4.1990 of the Punjab &
    Haryana High Court in Cr!. Misc. No. 3635 of 1989.

          R.S. Suri for the Appellant.

B         Brijender Chahar and Ashok Mathur for the Respondent.

          The following Order of the Court was delivered

           We have heard the learned counsel for the parties. The delay in
    filing the special leave petition is condoned and leave is granted.

c        2. The respondent who was undergoing sentence of life impri-
    sonment, had served a period of eleven and a half years when he made
    an application for pre-mature release; The Punjab and Haryana High
    Court by the impugned order issued a direction to release the respon-
    dent on bail, observing further that if his mercy petition, which was
    pending, is dismissed, he will have to surrender.
D
           3. The High Court has not taken into consideration the provi-
    sions of Section 433A of the Criminal Procedure Code while passing
    the order. A week back we have allowed a criminal appeal against a
    judgment of the Punjab & Haryana High Court in another case direct-
    ing pre-mature release on account of good conduct of the respondent in
E
    jail serving a life sentence although he had actually been in jail for a
    period of nine years only. We set aside the order as the provisions
    under Section 433A had not been taken into consideration, and remit-
    ted the matter to the High Court for reconsideration in accordance
    with the provisions of Jail Manual. The learned counsel for the respon-
    dent in the present appeal attempted to distinguish the case on the
F
    ground that here the respondent has been only enlarged on bail and
    has not been finally released. We do not think that Section 433A,
    which is quoted below, is inapplicable in the present case:

                "Restriction on powers of remission or commutation in
                certain cases-Notwithstanding anything contained in Sec-
G               tion 432, where a sentence of imprisonment for life is
                imposed on conviction of a person for an offence for which     ·""
                death is one of the punishments provided by law, or where
                a sentence of death imposed on a person has been com-
                muted under Section 433 into one of imprisonment for life,
                such person shall not be released from prison unless he had
H
                  STATE OF PUNJAB v. BABU SINGH                      423

            served at least fourteen years of imprisonment."                A

                                                    (emphasis supplied)

The respondent in his writ petition before the High Court relied -upon
three instructions (Annexures P-1 to P-3) in support of his claim that
                                                                            B
he is entitled to pre-mature release. Earlier the High Court had
directed the mercy petition, pending before the Governor, to be
decided within a period of three months. This was not done and a reply
was filed on behalf of the State explaining the circumstances under
which the matter remained pending. In this background the impugned
order was passed. The judicial proceeding dealing with the conviction
and sentence of the accused had been earlier concluded, and the order       c
of his release on bail was passed while finally disposing of the writ
petition alleging delay in disposal of the mercy petition. In other
words, no case is now pending before the Court, and it cannot be
suggested that the order of the respondent's release on bail has been
passed as an interim measure pending the decision of a case before the
Court. In such a situation the provisions of Section 433A are attracted.    D
The words in the Section quoted above and underlined by us are wide
in their application and cannot be restricted as sugggested by the
                                                                                ,
learned counsel for the respondent. We, therefore, allow the appeal,
set aside the impugned judgment and remit the case to the High Court
for reconsideration of the writ petition confined to its limited scope in
accordance with law. The respondent shall surrender without delay           E
and only thereafter he shall be allowed to press his application before
the High Court.

N.P.V.                                                 Appeal allowed.