In Brief
The appellant was convicted in 2004 of voluntarily causing hurt (Section 324 IPC) for an incident that occurred in 1998. The Additional Sessions Judge imposed three years' rigorous imprisonment and a fine of ₹5,000. The High Court reduced this to three months' rigorous imprisonment and ₹10,000 fine in 2014. The Supreme Court considered that nearly 19 years had passed since the offence, the appellant had no other criminal involvement, and custodial imprisonment was unjust. The Court modified the sentence to a fine of ₹50,000 with three months' simple imprisonment in default, dispensing with rigorous imprisonment entirely. The appeal was partly allowed.
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