Summary
Compensation ordered under Section 357(3) CrPC remains recoverable after the offender has served imprisonment imposed in default of payment. The statutory fiction treating compensation as a fine extends to the recovery machinery and the compensation exception in Section 421(1). Special reasons for recovery are unnecessary in that category.
Issues
- Whether serving default imprisonment extinguishes compensation or requires special reasons for its recovery.
Provisions considered
- Sections 357(3), 421(1) proviso and 431, Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973The recovery fiction extends the compensation exception to compensation ordered without a fine. (¶ 23–29)
- Sections 64 and 70, Indian Penal Code, 1860The companion provisions concerning default imprisonment and recovery apply through the statutory fiction. (¶ 25–29)
Held
- Default imprisonment does not discharge compensation. Section 431 must receive its logical effect for recovery, including the exception to the special-reasons requirement in the proviso to Section 421(1). (¶ 27–29)
- The High Court’s conclusion permitting recovery was upheld for the Supreme Court’s stated reasons. (¶ 30)
Result
Appeals dismissed; recovery of compensation upheld.