Page No.# 1/3 GAHC010135512025 undefined THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT (HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH) Case No. : I.A.(Crl.)/685/2025 ASHOK SARKAR S/O. KHAGEN SARKAR, VILL.- PANBARI, SHIVNAGAR, P/S. CHILAPATHAR, P/O. MUZIAR, DIST. DHEMAJI, PIN-787057. VERSUS THE STATE OF ASSAM AND ANR. REP. BY THE PP, ASSAM. 2:DIPOK MONDOL S/O. SRI ROMINI MONDOL VILL.- PANBARI SIVANAGAR P/O. MUZIAR P/S. SILAPATHAR DIST. DHEMAJI PIN-787057 Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. T SK, MR. I ALAM Advocate for the Respondent : PP, ASSAM, BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MANISH CHOUDHURY ORDER Date : 08-08-2025 Heard Mr. I. Alam, learned counsel for the applicant-appellant and Mr. R.R. Kaushik, learned Additional Public Prosecutor for the opposite party no. 1, Page No.# 2/3 State of Assam. 2. The instant application is preferred by the applicant-appellant seeking suspension of execution of the sentence passed against him and for his release on bail. 3. The applicant-appellant has preferred the accompanying criminal appeal against a Judgment and Order dated 28.05.2025 passed by the Court of learned Special Judge [POCSO], Dhemaji [‘the Special Court’, for short] in Special [POCSO] Case no. 06/2019. By the Judgment and Order dated 28.05.2025, the Special Court has convicted the applicant-appellant for the offence under Section 354, Indian Penal Code [IPC] and he has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 2 years and to a pay fine of Rs. 20,000/-, in default of payment of fine, to undergo rigorous imprisonment for another 3 months. 4. It is submitted at the Bar that since the applicant-appellant has been acquitted of the charge under Section 8, Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, service of notice upon the opposite party no. 2-informant is not imperative and the instant application can be considered without the presence of the opposite party no. 2-informant. 5. It is submitted that the applicant-appellant in order to prefer the accompanying criminal appeal, has been allowed to remain on previous bail by the learned Special Court under Section 430[3], BNSS. 6. The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in Bhagwan Rama Shinde Gosai vs. State of Gujarat reported in [1999] 4 SCC 421, has held that when a convicted person is sentenced to a fixed period of sentence and when he files an appeal Page No.# 3/3 under any statutory right, suspension of sentence can be considered by the appellate court liberally unless there are exceptional circumstances. 7. Having considered the period of sentence passed against the applicant- appellant, this Court is of the considered view that the applicant-appellant has made out a prima facie case for suspension of sentence pending disposal of the appeal. 8. It is, therefore, ordered that pending disposal of appeal, execution of the sentence passed against the applicant-appellant shall remain suspended and the applicant-appellant is allowed to be released on bail subject to furnishing a bail bond of Rs. 10,000/- with one surety of the like amount to the satisfaction of the Trial Court. 9. The interlocutory application stands disposed of in the afore-stated terms. JUDGE Comparing Assistant