THE STATE vs HIRALAL G. KOTHARI AND OTHERS

The Supreme Court held that a pardon under Section 337 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, can only be granted for the specific offences mentioned in Section 377(1). In this case, since the offences under Section 5 of the Official Secrets Act and Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code were not covered by Section 337(1), the approver could not be treated as such for the proceedings related to these offences. Consequently, the court ruled that the prosecution's attempt to examine the approver was legally untenable, leading to the dismissal of the appeals.