1/3 HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR Criminal Appeal No. 358 of 2019 Anoop & 2 Others Vs. State of Chhattisgarh Order Sheet 13/01/2025 Mr. Ajay Mishra, Advocate, for Appellant. Mr. Ashish Shukla, Additional Advocate General and Mr. Amit Buxy, Panel Lawyer, for Respondent-State. Heard the present appeal finally and the judgment has been passed and signed separately today itself. There are total five accused persons who have been tried in Sessions Case No.102/2012 and convicted by the judgment dated 22.12.2018 passed by the Second Additional Sessions Judge, Manendragrarh, District Koriya. The present appeal has been filed by only three accused persons namely – Anoop, Raju and Firoz. For the remaining two accused persons namely Raj alias Vikram and Vicky, this Court by its Order dated 10.1.2025 had directed the Superintendent of Jail, Koriya to submit a report before this Court as to whether they have preferred any appeal against their conviction and sentence or not. 2/3 Pursuant to the Order dated 10.1.2025 of this Court, the Superintendent, Central Jail, Bilaspur, has submitted his report dated 12.1.2025 which reveals that the above- mentioned two co-accused persons namely - Raj alias Vikram and Vicky both are languishing in Central Jail, Ambikapur and Central Jail, Raipur respectively since 22.12.2018 i.e. the date on which they have been convicted and sentenced by the Trial Court and still no appeal has been filed by the said accused persons questioning their conviction and sentence. This is a serious lapse on the part of the Secretary, District Legal Services Authority, Raipur and the Secretary, District Legal Services Authority, Koriya. They are directed to immediately provide necessary legal aid/assistance to the above-mentioned accused persons in filing their appeal against their conviction and sentence, without any further delay, as it appears from the record that they have not preferred appeal till date. Let explanation be sought from the Secretary, District Legal Services Authority, Raipur and the Secretary, District Legal Services Authority, Koriya as to why they have not taken any steps to provide legal aid/assistance to the said accused persons, despite various directions have been issued by this Court from time to time in respect of providing necessary legal aid/assistance to the accused persons who are languishing in jail and have not yet filed their appeal. Their explanation must reach before this Court within 15 days from today. 3/3 sharad A separate Cr.M.P. be registered by the Registry in this regard and placed before this Court along with their explanation. Sd/- Sd/- (Sanjay K. Agrawal) (Sanjay Kumar Jaiswal) JUDGE JUDGE SHARAD KUMAR YADAV Digitally signed by SHARAD KUMAR YADAV Date: 2025.01.20 18:40:14 +0530