No Probation Relief For Convicts Under Food Adulteration : Supreme Court

The Supreme Court ruled that those individuals convicted under the repealed Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, 1954 (PoFA) for offences committed between 1976 and 2006, are not eligible for probation under the Probation of Offenders Act. 

Appellants, convicted under the PoFA Act, argued that they should be granted probation under the PoFA, citing Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution and principles of reformative justice.

The Court emphasized that Section 20AA of the PoFA bars probation (except for minors), and Section 97 of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, preserved the penalties for offences committed before its repeal. 

The Court rejected the arguments, holding that public health outweighs reformative justice in such cases.