Ahmedabad: The Gujarat high court admitted a criminal appeal against a perjury conviction, suspended the appellant’s one-month sentence, and granted conditional regular bail.The appellant had been convicted by a Surat sessions court for giving false evidence on record. He was one of the witnesses in a 2022 murder trial in Surat. On Jan 17, after the trial concluded, the sessions court acquitted the murder accused for lack of evidence after several witnesses turned hostile. The court then issued show cause notices to six witnesses, asking why action should not be taken against them for allegedly giving false evidence on oath. On Feb 3, the Surat court held the appellant guilty under Section 344 of the CrPC, sentenced him to one month’s imprisonment, and imposed a fine of Rs 300. The trial court suspended the sentence for one month to allow him to file an appeal. In the high court, his counsel Zamir Shaikh argued that the appeal was unlikely to be heard soon and that no useful purpose would be served by sending the appellant to jail after the trial court’s temporary suspension expired. After hearing the matter, Justice S V Pinto suspended the sentence and granted regular bail on a personal bond of Rs 10,000 with one surety of the same amount. The bail conditions require him not to misuse liberty, not to leave India without permission, to maintain law and order, to inform the court of his residence, and to deposit the fine within four weeks.
