NOIDA: Having spent several more years in jail than time stipulated under law and with his trial yet not coming to a close, a man accused in a dacoity case in 2010 took the shortest path he could to freedom. He pleaded guilty.Rihaan, a Gautam Budh Nagar resident, spent the entire time since his arrest behind bars, never seeking bail and testifying in court for the first time in 2024. On Tuesday, after his guilty plea brought the need for any further court proceedings to an end, the additional sessions court awarded him eight years’ rigorous imprisonment for dacoity.The verdict means Rihaan will walk free after spending 16 years in custody, six more than the maximum term under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) section he was charged with. On July 27, 2010, an FIR was filed against Rihaan at Sec 39 police station under IPC section 395 (dacoity).As per the complaint, Rihaan and his associates barged into a house in Sec 41 and robbed the occupants of jewellery, Rs 21,000-22,000 in cash, a driving licence, purse and other belongings.After police completed the investigation and filed a chargesheet, the case was sent to the sessions court in 2015. According to records, the case was transferred between 12 courts over the subsequent 11 years and came up for hearing on 157 occasions before reaching its conclusion this week.
The legal journey
Initially, Rihaan denied the charges against him, and the trial began. The proceedings, however, gathered pace only after complainant Najbul Hasan testified as a prosecution witness on September 30, 2024. Thereafter, Rihaan expressed his willingness to plead guilty and submitted an application seeking the court’s permission.After the prosecution concluded its evidence presentation, his statement was recorded through video conference from jail. During the proceedings, he admitted his role in the crime.Additional sessions judge Somprabha Mishra observed that the allegations against Rihaan were corroborated by the complainant’s testimony and further supported by the accused’s own confession. “Therefore, the accused is liable to be convicted under Section 395 of IPC,” the court ruled.While hearing arguments on sentencing, Rihaan told the court he was a poor man, had no one to represent him, and had already spent more years in prison than the charges against him would amount to. He sought the minimum possible punishment.“In the event of non-payment of the fine, the convicted accused will undergo an additional one month of simple imprisonment in addition to the fine. The period of imprisonment already served by the convicted accused in the case presented will be adjusted towards his substantive sentence,” judge Mishra noted. The fine imposed was Rs 10,000.The case is among several instances where undertrials have pleaded guilty to walk free, having spent more time in jail than the maximum punishment under the charges against them.On June 9 last year, a Noida sessions court sentenced Dadri resident Gulfam alias Tota to eight years, five months and 11 days in jail under UP Gangsters and AntiSocial Activities (Prevention) Act, exactly matching the time he had already spent in custody. Gulfam had, after a long wait, pleaded guilty.
