The petitioner has appealed against the conviction and sentence awarded by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, District Court Bhavnagar vide judgment dated 3rd November, 2018, for the offences punishable under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 read with Section 34 and Section 25 (1) (B) (A) of Arms Act, 1959, before the Gujarat High Court in Criminal Appeal No. 417 of 2019. In that appeal the Gujarat High Court has refused to extend the Temporary Bail granted to petitioner/accused by order dated 19th October of 2023.
In 2025, Special Leave Petition SLP (Diary No. 45970 of 2023) was filed before the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India against refusal to extend the period of temporary bail granted to the petitioner in Criminal Appeal No. 417 of 2009, order dated 19th October of 2023 passed by the Gujarat High Court and further the petitioner has also filed Interlocutory Application seeking exemption from surrendering along with SLP. The said interlocutory application was registered by the Registry and stands rejected by the Hon’ble Judge-in-Chamber vide order dated 8th December 2023.
The Bench of Supreme Court has clarified the apparent anomaly in the SLP and Interlocutory Application seeking exemption from surrendering.
By reading the Order XXII rule 5 of the Supreme Court Rules 2013 given below.
“Where the appellant has been sentenced to a term of imprisonment, the petition of appeal shall state whether the appellant has surrendered and if he has surrendered then the appellant shall, by way of proof of such surrender, file the certified copy of the order of the Court in which he has surrendered or a certificate of the competent officer of the Jail in which he is undergoing the sentence. A mere attestation of the signatures on the Vakalatnama from the Jail authorities shall not be considered as sufficient proof of surrender. Where the appellant has not surrendered to the sentence, the petition of appeal shall not be accepted by the Registry unless it is accompanied by an application for seeking exemption from surrendering. Where the petition of appeal is accompanied by an application for exemption from surrendering, that application alone shall be posted for hearing orders before the Court in the first instance.”
On reading the above rule, it is very clear that when the petitioner/appellant has not surrendered to the sentence, the petition of appeal shall not be accepted by the Registry unless it is accompanied by an application for seeking exemption from surrendering.
In the present case, since the petitioner has already surrendered upon the rejection of the Interlocutory Application(supra), the present special leave petition challenging the High Court's refusal to extend the temporary bail is infructuous. Accordingly Special Leave Petition is disposed by Hon'ble Supreme Court of India.
