- (1.) Though the petition was filed as a writ petition and was numbered as WP (Crl.) No. 192 of 2005, by order dated 1.04.2005 it was noted that in the notice it shall be indicated that the writ petition shall be treated as a special leave petition against the judgment of the High Court and shall be disposed of in the light of this Court's judgment in Ghapoo Yadav V/s. State of M.P., 2003 3 SCC 528.
(2.) Background facts in a nutshell are as follows: Five persons faced trial for alleged commission of offence punishable u/s. 302 read with Sec. 149 of the Penal Code, 1860 (in short "IPC"). The trial court convicted all the five accused persons including the appellant in this writ petition and sentenced him to undergo RI for life. All the accused persons preferred appeal which was numbered as Criminal Appeal No. 718 of 1989 before the Madhya Pradesh High Court at Jabalpur. The High Court by its judgment dated 18.04.2001 dismissed the appeal. Three of the accused persons filed Special Leave Petition No. 4782 of 2002 which was admitted and registered as Criminal Appeal No. 229 of 2003. The appellant admittedly did not file any special leave petition. By judgment dated 17.02.2003 in the aforesaid criminal appeal, a Bench of this Court held that Exception 4 to Sec. 300 of the Indian Penal Code was applicable to the facts of the case and altered the conviction to Sec. 304 Part I of the Indian Penal Code and held that custodial sentence of ten years and fine as was imposed by the High Court would meet the ends of justice. The petition be numbered as special leave petition and consequently as a criminal appeal on grant of leave.
(3.) Learned counsel for the respondent State submitted that since the appellant had not filed any special leave petition in time, he is not entitled to the benefit of the judgment.;