Breaking; Two Judge Bench (SC) Lets off Rapist with the 'sentence already undergone' citing a Judgment which was held as 'no longer a precedent' by Three Judge Bench [Read Jt]

A two Judge Bench of the Supreme Court in Ravindra Vs State of MP, while upholding the conviction of an accused in a Rape Case, sentenced him to the 'sentence already undergone' by reducing the mandatory minimum sentence for Rape. ", the Bench relied on Justice Katju's infamous Judgment in Baldev Singh vs. State of Punjab which was held " not a precedent" by a three Judge Bench in Shimbhu and another v. State of Haryana In Para-12 of the Judgment Justice Ghosh who wrote the Judgment held as follows; "Now, we shall examine whether this case falls under proviso to Section 376 IPC, to award a lesser sentence for "adequate and special reason". The following circumstances are considered as 'adequate and special reasons' for reducing the minimum sentence in this Case incident took place 20 years ago both victim and accused are married they have entered into a compromise In Baldev Singh also similar set of circumstances were considered as 'adequate and special reasons'. Making them undergo further imprisonment would not help the victim, whereas by giving her some money we could help her feed her children But a Three Judge Bench of the Supreme Court in Shimbhu and another v. State of Haryana after considering Baldev Singh, it is held as follows; "In Baldev Singh and Others vs. State of Punjab 13 SCC 705, though courts below awarded a sentence of ten years, taking note of the facts that the occurrence was 14years old, the appellants therein had undergone about 3 1/2 years of imprisonment, the prosecutrix and the appellants married and entered into a compromise, this Court, while considering peculiar circumstances, reduced the sentence to the period already undergone, but enhanced the fine from Rs.