Actor Jayaprada and other partners of the now defunct Jayaprada cine theatre in Chennai suffered a major blow on Friday with the Madras High Court dismissing their plea to suspend the six month simple imprisonment imposed on them by a Metropolitan Magistrate in Chennai on August 10, 2023 for having not paid Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) dues.
Justice G. Jayachandran held that the track record of the case justifies the dismissal of the present petitions filed by the convicts challenging the refusal of the Principal Sessions Court to suspend the sentence. He pointed out that the partners had successfully prolonged the issue for 18 long years by filing petitions after petitions to delay the payment of statutory dues.
Further, he took serious note of the convicts not having appeared before the Magistrate even on the day of pronouncement of judgement forcing the judicial officer to issue non bailable arrest warrants against them. They had neither appeared before the principal sessions court while seeking suspension of sentence in September this year, he pointed out.
The judge made it clear that the convicts would be entitled to suspension of sentence/bail if only they surrender before the sessions court and deposit ₹20 lakh jointly/severally within 15 days. “The lower appellate court shall not entertain petition for bail/suspension of sentence unless the pre-condition of deposit is complied with and the accused/petitioner appears physically,” he added.
The ESIC had lodged five different complaints against the actor and other partners of the cinema theatre before the second Metropolitan Magistrate in Chennai in 2005. One of those complaints was related to the non-payment of ₹8.17 lakh for the period between November 1, 1991 and September 30, 2022 and three other complaints were related to non-payment of ₹1.58 lakh for different periods between 2002 and 2004.
The fifth complaint was regarding non-submission of the return of contributions, for the period that ended in September 2003. In her defence, the actor told the Magistrate that the partnership firm was wound up in 2008 and that the theatre was non-functional as on date. However, the Magistrate went on to convict her for the offences under the ESIC Act after observing that the crimes had been committed much before 2008.
Passing identical orders on all five complaints lodged by the ESIC, the Magistrate had directed the actor to undergo simple imprisonment for six months besides discharging the entire liability for which the complaints had been made. Since the actor was not present on the day when the judgement was pronounced on August 10, the Magistrate also issued non-bailable arrest warrants to secure her presence and to make her undergo the punishment.
