Chattisgarh High Court
Pramod Kumar Panika vs State Of Chhattisgarh on 8 April, 2025
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HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR
CRA No. 1219 of 2023
Pramod Kumar Panika Son of Ram Bagas Panika Aged About 28 Years
Resident of Village Nagpur, Chervapara, Police Station Podi, District
Koriya Chhattisgarh
... Appellant
versus
State of Chhattisgarh Through- Police of Police Station Podi, District
Koriya Chhattisgarh
... Respondent
Order Sheet
08/04/2025 Proceedings of this matter have been taken
through video conferencing.
Heard Mr. Vikhyat Arora, learned counsel for the
appellant. Also heard Ms. Ankita Shukla, learned Panel
Lawyer, appearing for the respondent/State on the
instant application for suspension of sentence and grant
of bail (I.A. No. 1 of 2023).
ABHISHEK By the impugned judgment of conviction and order
SHRIVAS
Digitally signed by
ABHISHEK SHRIVAS
of sentence dated 16.02.2023, by the Court of learned
Date: 2025.04.15
Additional Sessions Judge (FTC) and Special Judge
11:22:59 +0530
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(POCSO ACT), Baikunthpur, District Koriya (C.G.) in
Special Criminal POCSO Case No. 30/2021, has
convicted and sentenced the appellant in the following
manner:
Conviction Sentence
Under Section 363 of the Rigorous imprisonment (for
Indian Penal Code (for short, ‘R.I.’) for 03 years
short, ‘IPC‘) with fine of Rs. 100/-, in
default of payment of fine
further RI for 15 days.
Under Section 366 of the R.I. for 05 years with fine of
IPC Rs. 100/-, in default of
payment of fine further RI
for 15 days.
Under Section 354/34 of R.I. for 02 years with fine of
the IPC. Rs. 500/-, in default of
payment of fine further RI
for 01 month.
Under Section 6 of the R.I. for 10 years with fine of
POCSO Act. Rs. 100/-, in default of
payment of fine further RI
for 15 days.
All the sentences will run concurrently
Learned counsel for the convict/appellant argued
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that the appellant has been falsely implicated in the
present case and that there is no evidence on record to
connect the appellant with the commission of the offence.
Furthermore, learned counsel for the appellant argued
that the findings given by the learned trial Court against
the appellant is perverse and contrary to evidence on
record consequently the same is liable to be set-aside.
He further submits that the prosecution story itself
reveals that the appellant and the victim knew each other
well, suggesting that the victim may have been a
consenting party. Therefore, no case can be made out
against the appellant. He also submits that the learned
trial court failed to observe that the prosecution had
completely failed to prove its case beyond a reasonable
doubt, rendering the impugned conviction and sentence
liable to be set aside. He further submits that the
appellant has been in jail near about 07 years, further,
the appeal is likely to take a couple of years or even
more in its final disposal, hence he prays that the
appellant be enlarged on bail.
Learned counsel for the appellant relied upon the
judgment passed by the Hon’ble Apex Court in the
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matters of Atul Alias Ashutosh vs. State of Madhya
Pradesh (2024) 3 SCC 663 and Nanhe Lal Verma vs.
State of Madhya Pradesh (Arising out of SLP
(Criminal) No. 14769 of 2024) decided on 25.11.2024
wherein, the Hon’ble Apex Court has held that when
there is a fixed term sentence and especially when the
appeal is not likely to be heard before completing entire
period of sentence, normally suspension of sentence and
bail should be granted.
On the other hand, the learned State counsel
submits that notice has already been served to the
mother of the victim/complainant, but no one appeared to
object the suspension of the sentence and grant of bail to
the appellant. He further submits that the appellant
committed sexual intercourse with the victim, who is a
minor girl aged about 17 years and 01 month at the time
of the incident i.e. approximately two and a half months,
therefore, the findings arrived at by the learned trial Court
is just and proper.
I have heard learned counsel for the parties and
perused the documents appended with the bail
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application.
Considering the submissions advanced by the
learned counsel for the parties, further considering the
law laid down by the Hon’ble Apex Court in Atul Alia
Ashutosh (Supra) and Nanhe Lal Verma (Supra),
also considering the evidence available on record and
further the fact that the notice has already been served
on the mother of the victim/complainant, but no one has
appeared to object to the suspension of the sentence
and the grant of bail to the appellant, further, the victim
and the appellant were well acquainted with each other
moreover, the case pertains to the year 2017 and the
appellant has been in jail near about 07 years and further
hearing of this appeal would take prolonged period of
time, I deem it appropriate to allow the application for
suspension of sentence and grant of bail moved on
behalf of the appellant.
Accordingly, the substantive jail sentence awarded
to appellant – Pramod Kumar Panika, by the learned
trial Court is hereby suspended. He shall be released on
bail on his executing bail bond to the satisfaction of the
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concerned trial Court for his appearance before the
Registry of this Court on 05.05.2025. He shall thereafter,
appear before the concerned trial Court on a date to be
given by the Registry of this Court and shall continue to
appear there on all such subsequent dates as are given
to him by the said Court, interval being not less than 6
months, till final disposal of this appeal.
Consequently, I.A. No. 1 of 2023 is allowed.
It is made clear that the observations made
hereinabove are only confined for disposal of aforesaid
I.A. filed in this appeal and it shall not be construed as an
expression of opinion of this Court on the merits of the
matter.
List this matter for final hearing.
C.C. as per rules.
Sd/-
(Ramesh Sinha)
Chief Justice
Abhishek