‘No fruitful purpose after 17.5-year delay in assault case’: HC releases 2 after 1-month jail
Times of India | 10 January 2026
Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Friday reduced the sentence of two men, convicted in an assault case of 2008, considering it had already been 17-and-a-half years and sending them to a correctional home would serve "no fruitful purpose". Noting that the two had served over one month in jail, the court let them go.
The Barrackpore ACJM took cognisance of the assault on Dec 2, 2009 and convicted the two—Ram Chandra Prasad alias Das and Rabi Prasad, residents of Ichhapur—of voluntarily causing grievous hurt under Section 325 of IPC. The ACJM on Aug 20, 2019, sentenced them to two years' imprisonment and fined them Rs 5,000 each.
Justice Tirthankar Ghosh on Friday did not interfere with the conviction order passed by the trial court but reduced the sentence. "I find that both the petitioners suffered custody for over a month and the incident took place back on June 12, 2008. As such, after 17.5 years, no fruitful purpose would be served by sending them to correctional home," Justice Ghosh held.
Justice Ghosh directed the convicts to submit a personal bond of Rs 10,000 within a month. In case they were found involved in a similar nature of offences, like injuring persons by assaulting them with or without the help of deadly weapons, the bond would be cancelled and the two would be directed to serve a sentence of six months, he said.
On June 12, 2008, victim Kundan Shaw's sister lodged a complaint at the Noapara PS against Ram and Rabi, saying they assaulted Kundan victim with a bicycle pump and a wooden stick, leading to severe injuries.
Shaw had to be admitted to Dr B N Bose Hospital. In his statement, Shaw, said he was thereafter referred to NRS Hospital, where he was admitted for more than a month. He identified Ram and Rabi in court and stated that he did not know the reason behind the accused assaulting him but he was aware that the intention was to murder him.
The medical officer, who examined Shaw in the first instance, deposed that according to the patient and patient party's statement, the injured was assaulted with an iron rod by the convicts and, at the relevant time, the victim was conscious. The prosecution case relied upon 13 witnesses and documents, including the seizure list, injury report, complaint letter and FIR, as well as the offence weapons—wooden stick and bicycle pump.