In a recent order, the Supreme Court (SC) of India suspended the six-month jail sentence of cine actress Jayapradha in connection with the Employee State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) case. She was sentenced by a Metropolitan Magistrate Court in Egmore as she failed to comply with the statutory obligations of payment of contributions due to the ESIC. She was found guilty of committing an offence under Section 85(a) and Section 85(i)(b) of the Employees State Insurance Act. The two-judge bench of the SC consisting of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan observed that “The appellants have deposited a sum of Rs. 9,80,000/-. Considering the fact that substantive appeals against the orders of conviction are pending, the second appellant (Jayapradha) is entitled to relief of suspension of sentence and bail pending the disposal of the appeals.”
Therefore, the bench set aside the order of the Madras High Court that refused to grant her relief as well as refused to set aside the sentence. The SC said, “During the pendency of the appeals before the Sessions Court, the substantive sentence of the second appellant (Jayapradha) shall stand suspended and she shall be enlarged on bail, pending final disposal of the appeals.” The top court ordered, “We direct the second appellant to appear before the Trial Court and complete the bail formalities within a period of one month from today (March 15). Till the completion of bail formalities, the order of exemption from surrendering granted by this Court will continue to operate.”