Probation in Sessions Cases After BNSS: Why Maharashtra Courts Must Apply the Probation of Offenders Act First

A recurring sentencing issue before criminal courts in Maharashtra is whether probation can be granted in a sessions-triable offence, particularly where the offence is punishable up to five years and involves obstruction or assault on a public servant. The correct legal position is that the court must first examine the case under Section 4 of the Probation of Offenders Act, 1958, because the special probation law continues to govern eligible cases even under the BNSS framework.

The common error is to assume that once an offence is triable by the Court of Session, probation is ruled out. That assumption is legally unsound, because the real statutory bar under Section 4 of the Probation of Offenders Act is not the forum of trial, but whether the offence is punishable with death or imprisonment for life.

Introductory note

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What Precautions Should a Sessions Judge Take While Passing Sentence After Conviction? A Practical BNSS Guide to Avoid Illegality

 Sentencing is not a routine tailpiece to conviction. Once guilt is recorded, the Sessions Judge enters a distinct judicial stage in which fairness, statutory discipline, and recorded reasons become critical; many otherwise sustainable convictions are exposed to appellate criticism because the sentencing part is casual, mechanical, or incomplete.

Under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, the safest approach is to treat the process from conviction onward as a structured legal sequence: record a precise finding of guilt, hear the accused on sentence, consider aggravating and mitigating factors, examine previous conviction only in the manner permitted by law, apply probation and compensation provisions where relevant, stay within statutory sentencing limits, grant set-off, and complete all consequential formalities.

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