Appeal against conviction cannot be treated as infructuous merely because sentence was served: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court recently held that an appeal against conviction cannot be treated as infructuous merely for the reason that appellant has served the sentence (Gurjant Singh v. State of Punjab)..The Bench of Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Vikram Nath held the same in a challenge to an order of the Punjab & Haryana High Court dismissing the appeal filed by the appellant on the grounds that no one appeared for him and that he had already served his sentence for an alleged offence under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.The appellant was convicted by the trial court under Section 18 of the NDPS Act and was awarded a sentence of five months' imprisonment and fine of ₹3,000.It was the case of the appellant that though he had served the required sentence and had deposited the fine, he still sought to assail his conviction by the trial court..Allowing the appeal, the Supreme Court noted,"Though learned counsel for the respondent has attempted to support the conviction and sentence of the appellant but could not dispute the position that merely for execution of the sentence, an appeal against conviction cannot be treated as infructuous."Additionally, the Court was of the view that the High Court should have taken appropriate steps to arrange for representation on behalf of the appellant instead of dismissing the appeal as infructuous."Moreover, the matter before the High Court was an appeal against conviction. Therein, if nobody was present for the appellant for any reason, the High Court could have taken appropriate steps for representation on behalf of the appellant but, in any case, the appeal could not have been dismissed as infructuous," the Court stated..While allowing the appeal, the Supreme Court set aside the order of the Punjab & Haryana High Court and restored the plea filed by the appellant before the High Court..Advocate-on-Record Yadav Narender Singh and Advocates Jagdish Parshad, Vijay Kumar Sharma and Ashutosh Yadav appeared for the appellant.Advocate-on-Record Jaspreet Gogia and Advocate SS Boparai appeared for the State of Punjab..[Read Order]