THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE RAJA ELANGO CRIMINAL APPEAL No.1816 of 2007 06-11-2014 BETWEEN:
Telugu Manyam …..Appellant/accused AND State of Andhra Pradesh by Public Prosecutor, High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad For the State of Telangana and the State of Andhra Pradesh.
…..Respondent -
THIS COURT MADE THE FOLLOWING JUDGMENT:
THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE RAJA ELANGO CRIMINAL APPEAL No.1816 of 2007 JUDGMENT:
The Criminal Appeal is preferred by the appellant/accused challenging the Judgment, dated 11.12.2007, in Special C.C. No.2 of 2007 passed by the Hon’ble I Additional Sessions Judge, Mahabubnagar, whereby the learned Judge found the appellant/accused guilty for the offence under Section 138(1)(b) of the Electricity Act, 2003, and accordingly convicted and sentenced him to undergo simple imprisonment for a period of two years and to pay a fine of Rs.10,000/- (Rupees ten thousand only), in default, to suffer simple imprisonment for eight months.
The case of the prosecution is as follows:-
The accused is residing in house bearing No.1-18 with service connection No.170 Category II. This service stands in the name of his father, who died long back and since then, the accused has become the beneficiary of the said service connection and he is maintaining dish antenna. However, the service was disconnected long back for non-payment of CC charges, but the accused was availing power to the house by tapping LT overhead lines by means of twin core service wire of 20 meters for both phase and neutral and connected the main switch board. This was detected by the officials of the Department. Hence, the charge.
To prove the guilt of the accused, P.Ws.1 to 5 were examined and Exs.P.1 to P.6 and M.O.1 were marked on behalf of the prosecution.
D.W.1 was examined and Exs.D.1 to D.3 were marked on behalf of the accused.
On appreciation of oral and documentary evidence, the trial Court found the appellant/accused for the offence under Section 138(1)(b) of the Electricity Act, 2003, and accordingly convicted and sentenced him as stated above. Aggrieved by the same, the present appeal is preferred by the appellant/accused.
Heard the learned counsel for the appellant/accused and the learned Public Prosecutor.
After evaluating and examining the material available on record and considering the respective submissions of the learned counsel for both parties, this Court is of the view that there are no special or adequate reasons, warranting interference by this Court with the Judgment passed by the trial Court.
At this stage, the learned counsel for the appellant/accused confines his argument with regard to quantum of sentence, and submits that as the accused is the only bread winner in his family, a lenient view may be taken by this Court while imposing sentence of imprisonment.
Considering the submission made by the learned counsel for the appellant/accused, and the nature of offence, and also in view of long lapse of time, this Court is inclined to take a lenient view.
In the result, the conviction recorded by the trial Court against the appellant/accused for the offence under Section 138(1)(b) of the Electricity Act, 2003, is hereby confirmed. However, this Court, taking a lenient view, reduces the sentence of imprisonment to the period, which the appellant/accused has already undergone. However, the appellant/accused is directed to pay additional fine of Rs.10,000/- (Rupees ten thousand only), in addition to the fine imposed by the Court below, on or before 30th March, 2015, in default, to suffer simple imprisonment for six months. The said additional fine amount is directed to be paid to the Electricity Department.
It is made clear that if the additional fine amount is paid after the stipulated period and while undergoing default sentence, the appellant shall be released.
Accordingly, the Criminal Appeal is partly allowed. Consequently, miscellaneous applications, if any pending in this appeal, shall stand closed.
JUSTICE RAJA ELANGO 06.11.2014 pln