# JUGAL. KISHORE PRASAD v. STAlE OF BIHAR August 16. 1972

- **Citation:** [1973] 1 S.C.R. 875
- **Court:** Supreme Court of India
- **Decided:** 1973
- **Bench:** 1. M. Shelat, I. D. DuA, H. R . .Khanna
- **Source:** https://unisonlegal.in/judgment/supreme-court-of-india/jugal-kishore-prasad-v-stale-of-bihar-august-16-1972-5731
- **Pages:** 5

## Headnote

~~!ba:ion ,o,h1 o,Demfer;r Act, 1(20 o,t 1958). II, 6-Convicticns tor obtDU
p11nu,.. 1t w
m~ruonTMnt or 1/e or leJ>ur ttrm-Witnh
~
..
below 21 ytars can mvoke uction.
tr o.tu:rt.
The appellant, who was les!l. than 21 yean of age, waa convicted far
an oft'~.:;ce . under s. 326 read 'Mth. t. 1<40 I.P.C., and was sentenced to 3
years 1111pnsonment • . On the question whether he could claim the bellllt
of s. 6 of the Probalton of Offenders Act, 1958,
HELD : ( 1) The Act Wa! enacted with a view to provide for the ·rek:ase o! offenders of certain categora:.. on probation or after due admoa.ition with the object of preventing the conver!ion of youthful offenders of
lts5 than 21 yean ~into obdurate c:rimiiWs IIlia result of their a.s5o~atioa
with hardened criminal! dl mature a~ in the jail Where, however, tb
ofi'enc.e tor which a person has been convicted is of a serious naturo
puni!hable with imprisonment for life, or i~ one of thoae speCified in a. IS
of the Act, the benefit of the Act woul~ not be available. [877G-H; 879A-CJ
(2) '[he appellant, on being convicted for the offence under a. 3l0
re:od with a. 149. I.P.C., was liable to be punished with impruonmenl r.r
li!e. Therefore. he would not be entitled to the beneftt of ,_ 6 of 1U
Probation of Offenders Act. To bold othel"'''t'iee would be treatinJ the 'lt'il~ir.!
'but not with imprisonment for life' in the section, as oti~. contra,ry
to rules ot construction. (878B-GJ
.
(3) The 'lact that impri5onmeot for a lesser term can also be a~ard.ed
for the offence would not take it out of the categJry of offent'CS pun~ble
with impruonment for life. [8780·Hl .
.
Som Natfr Puri v. State of Rajattlran, A.I.R. 1972 S.C. 1•90, followea.
CRntrNAL APPELLATE
JURISDICTION:
Criminal
Appeal
No, 46 of J 969 .
.4 p~l under Article 134 (1 )(c) of the
Co~mrrgo~ 96~£
lndia from tbe juds~ment and ~rd~ 1daAted ~~: 1 r 6 of 1966:
of Che Patna Hi~h Court in Cnmma
ppea
·
S M M . h
d S S Jaulwr for the nppell::mt.
.
.
ts ra an
. .
•
B. P. Jha, lor the respondent.
The Judgment of the Courl was delivered by
.
.
.
hlch arises for deteriiiJ.JlatJon
. ~.
J. The short quC-'tion w
Patna High Court is wbeln thU appeal on certificnte granted b~ 1
ear-~ of age on the date
lher the appellant who was lc:ss =
y tion 326 read wit~ 8ec·
or hi'! ronviction for an offence
fr· sec the benefit of sectton 6
tion 149 Indian Penal Code, can 195gn(Act No. 20 of 1958).
or the Prob<~tion of Offenders Act,
~ ..
.,
'
. I.
I
.
t'
'
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I
I.
816 .
sUPJJ!ME CO'llllT :&EPOI.TS
[1973] 1 S.C.R..
Uan and five- otherS. who belong to. ~I.agc Mand.il
~.
ap~aya.,t were tried in the court of Additional Sessions
in d
15~ct for offences under sections 147, 148, 307,, 323 and
111 ge ;~th ~tion 149 Indian Penal Code and S;CCtion 25 of
~: ~
Act. Jugal Kishore appellant 'Yas convict~ under
5eetion 326 read with section 149 and .sectton !48 ~Penal
Code and was sentenced to undergo ngoro.us IID.P'JSOilJ?lent for
a period of five years on the first COilDt and ngorous unPnsonment
for a period of two years on the second count. The sentcnce5
awarded to the appellant were ord~red to run c~ncurrently. The
other five accused were also conVlcted for vanous offences and
were sentencd on those counts.
On appeal the Patna High Court as per judgment . ~a~
January 22 1968 acquitted two of the accused. The convtction
<>f the appe'Uant for offences under section 326 read with section
149 and 148 Indian Penal Code was maintained. The sentence of
the a!)pel!ant for the offence under section 326 read with section
149 Indian Penal Code wa'! reduced from five years to three years.
The sentence for the offence under section 148 ·Indian Penal Code
was, however, maintained.
The conviction. of the other three
accused was maintained for som'=!' of the offences, and they were
awarded sentences of impnsonmcnt on that count. After Ll-)e pronouncement of the jud~ment by the High Court, an app!icatiot)
was made on behalf o{ the appellant that his case be deal with
under t.lJe Probat

## Text

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JUGAL. KISHORE PRASAD
v.
STAlE OF BIHAR
August 16. 1972
875
[1. M. SHELAT, I. D. DuA AND H. R . .KHANNA, JJ.]
~~!ba:ion ,o,h1 o,Demfer;r Act, 1(20 o,t 1958). II, 6-Convicticns tor obtDU
p11nu,.. 1t w
m~ruonTMnt or 1/e or leJ>ur ttrm-Witnh
~
..
below 21 ytars can mvoke uction.
tr o.tu:rt.
The appellant, who was les!l. than 21 yean of age, waa convicted far
an oft'~.:;ce . under s. 326 read 'Mth. t. 1<40 I.P.C., and was sentenced to 3
years 1111pnsonment • . On the question whether he could claim the bellllt
of s. 6 of the Probalton of Offenders Act, 1958,
HELD : ( 1) The Act Wa! enacted with a view to provide for the ·rek:ase o! offenders of certain categora:.. on probation or after due admoa.ition with the object of preventing the conver!ion of youthful offenders of
lts5 than 21 yean ~into obdurate c:rimiiWs IIlia result of their a.s5o~atioa
with hardened criminal! dl mature a~ in the jail Where, however, tb
ofi'enc.e tor which a person has been convicted is of a serious naturo
puni!hable with imprisonment for life, or i~ one of thoae speCified in a. IS
of the Act, the benefit of the Act woul~ not be available. [877G-H; 879A-CJ
(2) '[he appellant, on being convicted for the offence under a. 3l0
re:od with a. 149. I.P.C., was liable to be punished with impruonmenl r.r
li!e. Therefore. he would not be entitled to the beneftt of ,_ 6 of 1U
Probation of Offenders Act. To bold othel"'''t'iee would be treatinJ the 'lt'il~ir.!
'but not with imprisonment for life' in the section, as oti~. contra,ry
to rules ot construction. (878B-GJ
.
(3) The 'lact that impri5onmeot for a lesser term can also be a~ard.ed
for the offence would not take it out of the categJry of offent'CS pun~ble
with impruonment for life. [8780·Hl .
.
Som Natfr Puri v. State of Rajattlran, A.I.R. 1972 S.C. 1•90, followea.
CRntrNAL APPELLATE
JURISDICTION:
Criminal
Appeal
No, 46 of J 969 .
.4 p~l under Article 134 (1 )(c) of the
Co~mrrgo~ 96~£
lndia from tbe juds~ment and ~rd~ 1daAted ~~: 1 r 6 of 1966:
of Che Patna Hi~h Court in Cnmma
ppea
·
S M M . h
d S S Jaulwr for the nppell::mt.
.
.
ts ra an
. .
•
B. P. Jha, lor the respondent.
The Judgment of the Courl was delivered by
.
.
.
hlch arises for deteriiiJ.JlatJon
. ~.
J. The short quC-'tion w
Patna High Court is wbeln thU appeal on certificnte granted b~ 1
ear-~ of age on the date
lher the appellant who was lc:ss =
y tion 326 read wit~ 8ec·
or hi'! ronviction for an offence
fr· sec the benefit of sectton 6
tion 149 Indian Penal Code, can 195gn(Act No. 20 of 1958).
or the Prob<~tion of Offenders Act,
~ ..
.,
'
. I.
I
.
t'
'
j t
I
I.
816 .
sUPJJ!ME CO'llllT :&EPOI.TS
[1973] 1 S.C.R..
Uan and five- otherS. who belong to. ~I.agc Mand.il
~.
ap~aya.,t were tried in the court of Additional Sessions
in d
15~ct for offences under sections 147, 148, 307,, 323 and
111 ge ;~th ~tion 149 Indian Penal Code and S;CCtion 25 of
~: ~
Act. Jugal Kishore appellant 'Yas convict~ under
5eetion 326 read with section 149 and .sectton !48 ~Penal
Code and was sentenced to undergo ngoro.us IID.P'JSOilJ?lent for
a period of five years on the first COilDt and ngorous unPnsonment
for a period of two years on the second count. The sentcnce5
awarded to the appellant were ord~red to run c~ncurrently. The
other five accused were also conVlcted for vanous offences and
were sentencd on those counts.
On appeal the Patna High Court as per judgment . ~a~
January 22 1968 acquitted two of the accused. The convtction
<>f the appe'Uant for offences under section 326 read with section
149 and 148 Indian Penal Code was maintained. The sentence of
the a!)pel!ant for the offence under section 326 read with section
149 Indian Penal Code wa'! reduced from five years to three years.
The sentence for the offence under section 148 ·Indian Penal Code
was, however, maintained.
The conviction. of the other three
accused was maintained for som'=!' of the offences, and they were
awarded sentences of impnsonmcnt on that count. After Ll-)e pronouncement of the jud~ment by the High Court, an app!icatiot)
was made on behalf o{ the appellant that his case be deal with
under t.lJe Probation of Offeuders Act on the ground that hCJ was
below 21 years of age at the time of his conviction bv the trial
court. This application was reject~ by the High Court as per ·
order ~ated December 12, 196R . n the ground that the offence
for wh1ch _the al)~llant had been convicted wa'> t~unic:l,able wi1h
imnric;onment for life, and as such. the provisions of Probation of
Offenders Act could no be invoked in his case. On prayer made
by -the appellant, the Hi~h Court certified the case to be fit for
appeal t~ th~ ~upreme Court a<~ it involved the question relating to
the apohcab11lty of the Probation o£ Offend'!n Act.
1be appellant and his companions were tried on the allegation
that on ~to!>er 14, 1964- at about 10 a.m., while Madho Saran
was getun~ hiS field bearing No. 1678 ploughed bv hi3 vlouobman
Raks~va Mahto. the appellant and Rl!hu accused went there and
f~esttoned Madho S~ran for cuttin~ th~ ridge between field No.
M 78 and 1719. F1eld No. 1719 belonged to the avpe'lant
~ho Saran went to his house and narrat~d the incident to biJ
Qtb her ~adho Saran. Madho Saran and Sadho Saran aton~ ~ith
ba ers
entheycame out of thdr house and while they were near a
30rrage,
m~ ~0 accusa;J who were accompanied bv aboUt
h person of theJr villue. One of the accused namelv Hira La!.
S 0 was arm~ with. a ~n. fired a shot as a ~ult of whlch SadbO
aran wa! h1t on bl! h'!ad. Sadho Saran feU down whe~r
.
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.J. K. PRASAD V. BIHAR. (Khanna, I.)
877
the other accused, including the appellant who was armed ·th
~arasa. c~used further injuries to Sadho Saran and his~~
pawons wtth sharp-edged and blun~ weapons. The injur~ were
thereafter taken t~ Jehanabad Hospnal. On receipt of intimation
from the doctor .mcharge of the hospital, a police Sub Inspector
went to the hospital and recorded the statement of Madho Saran
N~d Kis~ore, one of the accused, also lodged a report at th~
pollee station ..
~
questi~n w~th which we are concerned in this appeal, as
menvoncd earlier, lS whether the appellant can claim tho benefit
of the Probation of Oifenders Act. The appellant gave his age
to be 19 years in his statl:ment under Section 342 of the Code
of Criminal Procedllfe, and the case has been argued before us
on the a.asumption that the appellant was less than 21 years of
age at the time of his conviction by the Additional Sessions Jr~dge.
lbe main offence for which the apPellant has been convicted is
section 326 re&i with sectio& 149 Indian Penal Code. Section
326 deals with the offence of voluntarily causing grievous hurt by
danger01ts weapons or means and the punishment prescribed for
Mle offence is impri~oftment for life, or imprisonment of either
description for a term which may exrend to ten years. The convicted person shall also be liable to pay fine.
Ac~:ording to section 149 of the Code, if an offence is committed by any member
of an unlawful assembly in prosecution of the common object of
that assembly, or such as the members _of that assembl_y knew to
be likely to be committ~d in prosecu_tJ<?n of that ObJect, ~ery
person who, at the time of the comnuttmg of that offence, 1s. ~
member of the same assembly, is guilty of that off~nce. It Js,
therefore, manifest that the appellant on. ~ing convxctc:d for the
offence under section 326 read with secnon 149 In~an Pe~al
Code was liable to be punished for imprisonment.for life or with
imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend
to ten years and was also liable to pay fine.
The P.(obation of Offenders Act was enacted in )958 wi~ a
view to provide for the release of offenders of cert31D categones
on probation or after due admonition and for ~atters ~ecte1
therewith. The object of the Act is to prevent
e converst~n o
vouthful offenders into obdurate criminals as a .result of therr association with hardened criminals of ma~ure ~go tne~in.t~~t~;
ful offenders are sentenced to un.dergo unpnsonm d · 1 th · field
above object is in c~nsonance. wtth ~~ ~{:~~t :ee':na: toe bring
of penology, nccordtn~ to whJ~h eff
e individual offenders and
about correction an~ r~fo"!lat~on ~~ern criminal ;urisprudence
not to .resort to retnbuttye JUSttce.
'minal and that gooJ many
r~mses that no one 1S a b;<>ro ~~omic milieu. Although net
cnmes are the vroduct of soc!~· =nnls considerable stre~s has
much can be done for hardencu cnm.
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SUPREME COUitT REPOI<·. ~'
[1973] 1 ~
beon laid on bringing about reform ot ~oung ~ffender~ n?t &Uilty
A
ol ve
serious offences and of :prevenung their asso7~tion with
kUcteZed criminals. The Act g~ves ~tatutory recogrutioa. to the
above objective. It is, thereforo p~oVIded ~at .youthful offenders
tbould not be sent to jail. except m certam. crrcumst!Wces. Befcxe, however, the benefit of the Act can be mvoked, It has to be
Jlaown that the convicted person even ~ough 1~ t~an ~1 years. 8
of age, is not guilty of an offenco purusbable w.1th lmpnsonment
for life. This is clear from the language of section 6 of the Act.
S.ll-section ( 1) of that section reads as under :
"When any person under twenty-Qne years of age is
founc! guilty of having committed an offence punishable
with imprisonment (but not With imprisonment for life),
C
the Court by which the person is found guilty shall not
sentence him to imprisonment unless it is satisfied that,
having rcgarrl to the circumstances of the case including
the nature of the offence and the character of the
offender, it would not be desirable to deal with him under
section 3 or section 4, and ;f tho Ccurt passes any sen~
n
tence of imprisonment on the offender it shall record
its reasons for doing so."
'
Mr. Misra on .behalf of the appellant has urged that as the
olfence under section 326 read with section 149 Indian Penal
C~de. is p_unishable not only with imprisonment for life but a!iO
With Jn:tpnsonment which may extend up to ten year:;, the benefit
f.
of sect1_on ~ of the ~c.t can be invoked by the aopcl!ant. This
con:entl~·u, m our Opllllon, is not well founded
Plain readin" of
sechon 6 makes it manifest that it deals with
person.; u;dcr
I:'Wen~-one vem:s of ago who are found guilty of.having committed
an ° encc_ PUnishable with imprisonment but not with· imnrison· ·
me.nt for life
As un· ·
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~nsonment or l•fe can also be awarded for
F
~edoffence under section 326 read with section 149 Indian Penal
enotit~~a 1~e~~
0
!1 fo~ndb guilty o( suc~l ah offence would not. be
would have th~~ t ~ f ~nefit_ of section 6 .. To hold otherwlS.:.
ment for lite" and ~~futgnonng tho wor<!s "but not with impris?ni!f plainly not ermissi
g them t~ bo OtiOGe. Such a construcr;on
that the offen~es excl~~-d 'f0 alsf canno~ subscribe to t~e vt<)W
G
only those off,.nce~ w e . rom ~ tc purv1ew of the secuon are
ment for life a~d not ~rem! pumshment prescribed is i.nwrisop·
the 'ection does not war a csscr term, for the language used tn
nlain meaning of the sec~ant. such a. view. On the contrary, the
?Y a. person who is con~~ that the section cannot be invok.ed
1mpnsonment for life
Th f for an offence
punishable wtth
term can also be awuded f 6 act that imprisonment for a Jesser
H
the cat~ory of 'offences
~r .the offenc_o would not take it out of
The policy underlying: tlt~ ~able wuh imprisonment for lif;·
~
c appears to be that it is only Ill
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J, K, PRASAD V. BII-lAR (Khaii!W, J.)
H7fJ
cases of not very serious natm:e, viz., offences not pumshable with
imprisonment for life that the convicted person should have the
benefit of provisions of the Act. Where, however, the offence for
which a person has been convicted is of a serious nature punish~
able with imprisonment for life, the benefit of the Act would not
be permissible in his case.
Likewise, there are certain offencefi
like thOSe under the Prevention of Corruption Act wherdn the
convicted person cannot claim the protection of the Act. Section
18 of the Act expressly excludes such offences from the purvie"'
.of the Act.
In the case of Som Nath Puri v. State of Rajastlwn(l)
the
ap~llant had been convicted for an offence under section 409
Indian Penal Code. Punishment for the offence under s~ction 409
Indian Penal Code is the same ac; for the offence under section
326, namely, imprisonment for life, or imprio;onment of either
description for a term which may extend to ten years and the
liability to pay fino. It was h~ld by this Court that in such 3. cas=:
the provisions of section 4 of the Pmbation of Offenders Act cannot ·be invoked. It may be mentioned that section 4 of the Probation of Offenders Act also excludes from its operation persor,s
convicted of offences punishable with imprisonment for life. J n
that connection, the Court observed :
"As the offence of criminal breach of trust under
section 409, I.P.C. is punishable with imprisonment for
life, the High Court, in our view, was right because the
provisions of section 4 are only apolicablb to a case of ~
person found guilty of having committed an offence not
punishable with death or imprisonment for life."
We, therefore, hold that the appellant cannot invoke th.e bene~
fit of section 6 of tho Probation of Offenders Act.
f
The appeal fails and is disnissed.
Appel1ant to surrender to the bail bond.
App~al dismiss~d •
.. (1) A.l.R. 1972 S.C. 1490.