- (1.) A short but important question that often crops up for consideration has arisen for determination in this petition. Whether the order of compensation passed by the Court can be stayed pending adjudication of the appeal is the seminal question.
(2.) Under the impugned order, the learned Sessions Judge suspended the sentence of imprisonment passed in the judgment against the accused on condition of payment of fine and continuance of cash security already furnished. The learned Judge further directed that the order, directing payment of compensation of Rs. 5,60,000/- to be suspended subject to the condition of furnishing third party security. The petitioner is now assailing that part of the order whereunder the Court below directed the petitioner to furnish third party security for suspending the order directing payment of compensation.
(3.) Compensation can be ordered to be paid by the Court under S. 357 of the Criminal Procedure Code (for short "the Code"). For brevity and better understanding of the matter, it is expedient here to extract Sectioin 357 of the Code, in so far as is relevant for the present purposes thus; 357 : Order to pay compensation (1) When a Court imposes a sentence of fine or a sentence (including a sentence of death) of which fine forms a part, the Court may, when passing judgment, order the whole or any part of the fine recovered to be applied- (a) in defraying the expenses properly incurred in the prosecution; (b) in the payment to any person of compensation for any loss or injury caused by the offence, when compensation is, in the opinion of the Court, recoverable by such person in a Civil Court; (c) and (d) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . 2. If the fine is imposed in a case which is a subject to appeal, no such payment shall be made before the period allowed for presenting the appeal has elapsed, or, if an appeal be presented, before the decision of the appeal. 3. When a Court imposes a sentence, of which fine does not form a part, the Court may, when passing judgment, order the accused person to pay, by way of compensation, such amount as may be specified in the order to the person who has suffered any loss or injury by reason of the act for which the accused person has been so sentenced. 4. and 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .;