In Brief
Santosh Kumar was convicted under Section 55(a) of the Abkari Act for illegal possession of spirit. The Additional Sessions Court sentenced him to 5 years imprisonment and Rs. 1 lakh fine. The High Court reduced the sentence to 3 years while maintaining the fine. The Supreme Court, considering that Santosh had already undergone 1 year 3 months of imprisonment since 2007, that he had no prior criminal record, and that one co-accused was acquitted, further modified the sentence. The Court reduced his jail term to 'time already undergone' but enhanced the fine from Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 1.5 lakh, with one year additional imprisonment as default. The appeal was allowed."
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