In Brief
Five men were convicted of dacoity (armed robbery) with murder after robbing a pawn shop of jewels worth Rs 12 lakhs and strangling a sleeping shop employee to death in 2002. The trial court sentenced them to ten years imprisonment under Section 396 IPC (dacoity with murder). The High Court enhanced the sentence to life imprisonment. The Supreme Court held that while the conviction was justified and the offence is serious, the absence of weapons, the lengthy time lapse since 2002, and the overall circumstances warranted modifying the sentence back to ten years. Two of the appellants were to be released immediately as they had already served over ten years in custody.
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