Feeling aggrieved and dissatisfied with impugned judgment and order dated 11.05.2022 passed by the High Court of Judicature for Rajasthan Bench at Jaipur in D.B. That thereafter, on remand after considering the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, the High Court not only has commuted the death penalty to life imprisonment, but also in paragraph 42 has made certain unwarranted observations on the investigation and that when this Court passed the order certain aspects were not brought to the notice of this Court and no assistance was provided to the accused – respondent herein to prefer an appeal before this Court. Viswanathan, learned Senior Advocate appearing on behalf of the respondent – accused and having gone through the impugned judgment and order passed by the High Court, more particularly, the observations made in paragraph 42, we are of the opinion that the observations made by the High Court in paragraph 42 are absolutely unwarranted and against the judicial discipline and propriety.
Judicial discipline requires that once the conviction was confirmed by this Court that too after hearing the accused, the High Court should not have thereafter made any comment on the merits of the case, more particularly, when the conviction was specifically confirmed by this Court and the matter was remitted to the High Court only for the purpose of considering the sentence, namely, whether death penalty and/or life sentence or any other appropriate sentence. Now so far as the impugned judgment and order passed by the High Court commuting the death penalty to life imprisonment is concerned, we see no reason to interfere with the same, more particularly, when the High Court after considering the aggravating and mitigating circumstances has commuted the death penalty to life imprisonment. SHAH)…………………………………J.
Case Title: THE STATE OF RAJASTHAN Vs. KOMAL LODHA (2023 INSC 32)
Case Number: Crl.A. No.-002239-002240 / 2022
