Page No.# 1/4 GAHC010029892025 undefined THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT (HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH) Case No. : I.A.(Crl.)/159/2025 CHAKRA SAHU S/O. LT. ARKITA SAHU, RESIDENT OF GABHARU TEA ESTATE, LINE NO 7, P/S. TEOK, DIST. JORHAT, ASSAM VERSUS THE STATE OF ASSAM REPRESENTED BY THE PUBLIC PROSCUTOR 2:ARATI NAYAK W/O. SRI KRISHNA NAYAK R/O. GABHARU PARBAT T.E LINE NO. 8 P/S. TEOK DIST. JORHAT ASSA Advocate for the Petitioner : MS B R A SULTANA, Advocate for the Respondent : PP, ASSAM, Linked Case : ST.Rev./0/0 SRI CHAKRA SAHU RESIDENT OF GABHARU TEA ESTATE LINE NO 7 TEOK Page No.# 2/4 JORHAT ASSAM VERSUS THE STATE OF ASSAM REPRESENTED BY PUBLIC PROSCUTOR 2:SMT ARATI NAYAK RESIDENT OF GABHARU PARBAT TEOK JORHAT ASSAM ------------ Advocate for : BEGUM ROUSHAN ARA SULTANA Advocate for : appearing for THE STATE OF ASSAM BEFORE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE MANISH CHOUDHURY HONOURABLE MRS. JUSTICE MITALI THAKURIA ORDER Date : 04.06.2025 [M. Choudhury, J] Heard Ms. B.R.A. Sultana, learned Legal Aid Counsel for the applicant-appellant and Ms. S.H. Borah, learned Additional Public Prosecutor for the opposite party-respondent no. 1, State of Assam. 2. As per Order dated 27.05.2025 of the Lawazima Court, service of notice upon the opposite party-respondent no. 2/informant is complete. Despite service of notice, none has appeared till date on behalf of the opposite party-respondent no. 2/informant. 3. The instant interlocutory application under Section 5 of the Limitation Act, 1963 is preferred seeking condonation of delay of 54 days in preferring the accompanying criminal appeal. The accompanying criminal appeal has been preferred under Section 415[2], Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 against a Judgment and Order dated 30.09.2024 passed by the Court of learned Special Judge, Jorhat [‘the Special Court’, for short] in Special Page No.# 3/4 Case no. 34/2023. By the Judgment and Order dated 30.09.2024, the learned Special Court has convicted the applicant-appellant for the offence under Section 376 [3] of the Indian Penal Code [IPC] as well as under Section 4 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences [POCSO] Act, 2012. In view of Section 42, POCSO Act, the applicant-appellant has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 20 [twenty] years and to pay a fine of Rs.10,000/-, with default stipulations, under Section 376 [3], IPC. 4. We have gone through the statements and averments made in the instant interlocutory application. It is noticed that after passing of the Judgment and Order of conviction and sentence on 30.09.2024, the case papers were forwarded from the authorities in the Central Jail, Jorhat in November, 2024 for extending legal aid and thereafter, the Gauhati High Court Legal Service Committee had appointed the Legal Aid Counsel on 17.12.2024. 5. Ms. Borah, learned Additional Public Prosecutor has fairly submitted that since the applicant-appellant has been sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 20 [twenty] years and to pay a fine of Rs.10,000/-, with default stipulations, under Section 376 [3], IPC, the interest of justice would be better sub-served if the connected appeal is heard on merits. 6. On having gone through the statements and averments made in this application, we are of the considered view that the applicant-appellant has been able to made out a case for showing sufficient cause for condoning the delay of 54 days in preferring the accompanying criminal appeal. 7. We are also of the considered view that since the applicant-appellant has been convicted under Section 376 [3], IPC, as well as under Section 4, POCSO Act and sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 20 [twenty] years and to pay a fine of Rs.10,000/-, with default stipulations, under Section 376 [3], IPC, interest of justice will be better sub- served if the connected appeal is heard on merits after condoning the period of delay of 54 days. At the stage of hearing the connected criminal appeal, the opposite party-respondent no. 2 would be heard, if the opposite party-respondent no. 2 enters appearance after service Page No.# 4/4 of notice. 8. For the afore-said reasons, the instant application is allowed condoning the delay of 54 days in preferring the connected appeal. 9. The Registry to register the connected appeal and thereafter, list the same in the admission column. JUDGE JUDGE Comparing Assistant