The top court took the view that the High Court decision of dismissing the appeal was bad in law and unsustainable.
Reliance was placed by the Court on its decision in Bani Singh and Others v. State of Uttar Pradesh, in which it had ruled that once the appellate court has admitted the appeal to be heard on merits, it cannot dismiss the appeal for non-prosecution or non-appearance of the appellant or his counsel, but must dispose of the appeal on merits after examining the record of the case.
The apex court applied this ratio to reverse the findings of the High Court.
“The anguish expressed by the Division Bench about the brazen action of the appellant of absconding and defeating the administration of justice can be well understood. However, that is no ground to dismiss an appeal against conviction, which was already admitted for final hearing, for non-prosecution without adverting to merits. Therefore, the impugned judgment will have to be set aside and the appeal will have to be remanded to the High Court for consideration on merits.”
The Patna High Court decision was, therefore, set aside and the matter was remanded back to High Court for fresh consideration.
Source: Barandbench
