85. This Court in Maru Ram v. Union of India, (1981) 1 SCC 107 held that:
“56. We are mindful of one anomaly and must provide for its elimination. If the Trial Court acquits and the higher Court convicts and it so happens that the acquittal is before Section 433-A came into force and the conviction after it, could it be that the convicted person would be denied the benefit of prospectivity and consequential non-application of Section 433-A merely because he had the bad luck to be initially acquitted? We think not. When a person is convicted in appeal, it follows that the appellate Court has exercised its power in the place of the original court and the guilt, conviction and sentence must be substituted for and shall have retroactive effect from the date of judgment of the Trial Court. The appellate conviction must relate back to the date of the Trial Court’s verdict and substitute it. In this view, even if the appellate Court reverses an earlier acquittal rendered before Section 433-A came into force but allows the appeal and convicts the accused, after Section 433-A came into force, such persons will also be entitled to the benefit of the remission system prevailing prior to Section 433-A on the basis we have explained. An appeal is a continuation of an appellate judgment as a replacement of the original judgment. [Freedom Behind Bars — Criminology and Consciousness, Series I, 1979, Maharshi European Research University Press Publication, p. 73]”
(Emphasis supplied)
86. The judgment in Maru Ram (supra) is relevant to the extent that the order of the appellate court relates back to the order of the Trial Court on the premise that an appeal is a continuation of trial and an appellate judgment is a replacement of the original judgment.
In the Supreme Court of India
(Before J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, JJ.)
Jamin and Another Vs State of Uttar Pradesh and Another
Criminal Appeal No. 1184 of 2025 (Arising Out of SLP (Crl.) No. 6320 of 2024)
Decided on March 6, 2025
Citation: 2025 SCC OnLine SC 506.
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