71-year-old’s 6-month jail term reduced by Calcutta HC to 9 days after 37 years

KOLKATA: Right to speedy trial is not just a “twinkling star in the high heavens only to be provided lip service”, but a meaningful protective provision, Calcutta High Court said in a recent judgment while reducing a six-month sentence awarded to a 71-year-old man 37 years ago to nine days, which he has already served.Swapan Kumar Bera was 34 when he was convicted in 1988 for illegally dealing in diesel and kerosene. He spent nine days in jail following his arrest in 1986 and a Midnapore court sentenced him to jail for six months and slapped a fine of Rs 1,000. Bera spent half his life fighting the case.Justice Prasenjit Biswas on Aug 26 upheld Bera’s conviction saying there was enough proof that he had violated provisions of West Bengal Kerosene Control Order, 1968, by storing 219 litres of kerosene and diesel without valid papers.

But he was reluctant to send Bera to jail after so many years.He held that in the past 39 years of trial and appeals, Bera had undergone “immense trauma, mental incarnation and anguish”.

The HC also held that a procedure that deprives a person of his liberty cannot be “reasonable, fair and just” unless it ensures a speedy trial to determine a person’s guilt.Weighing on whether Bera should undergo the remaining part of his sentence, the HC said, “There can be no doubt that speedy trial is an integral and essential part of the fundamental right to life and liberty enshrined in Article 21.

It is trite law (well established) that Article 21 and the right to speedy public trial is not merely a twinkling star in the high heavens to be worshipped and paid lip-service to, but is a meaningful protective provision.... An expeditious hearing of appeals against convictions is fairly and squarely within the mandate of the Article.”Justice Biswas said it was well-established in law that “long delay before courts in taking a final decision with regard to the guilt or otherwise of the accused is one of the mitigating factors for superior courts to take into consideration while taking a decision on the quantum of sentence,” and reduced Bera’s jail term to nine days but increased the fine from Rs 1,000 to Rs 3,000.