Duration of Life Imprisonment

Of reckoning, Life Imprisonment

Why do we imprison a convict? It is often argued that for prevention of crime and the offender’s rehabilitation. The prevention, by putting him behind the bars, so that the crime may not recur in society. And being a human, we believe in reformation and taking back offenders into the mainstream, so the rehabilitation is another main factor to imprisonment. It is true that punishment must be proportional to a crime, as it would be unfair to shoot sparrows with cannon. And it must be for rehabilitation of offenders and prevention of crime. But we cannot close our eyes from retribution. Human vengeance is the supreme reason which urges them to come to court. What, if this be remained alive in them. Eventually, they will take law in their hands and would likely commit another crime for the sake of justice or vengeance. This often happens here. Because courts consider that life imprisonment under section 57[1] of Pakistan Penal Code, 1860 (hereinafter referred as PPC) means, imprisonment for twenty five years[2]. But this is not true. Life imprisonment means “imprisonment for the whole of the remaining of convicted person’s natural life”[3], and not twenty five years.

The issue arises when one barely reads section 57 of PPC. It provides that, in calculating fractions of terms of punishment, imprisonment for life shall be reckoned as equivalent to imprisonment for twenty-five years[4]. By bare reading of the same, it seems that in reckoning life imprisonment is twenty-five years. But the law is always interpret in its subject to the context, keeping in due regard to the object and purpose of the statute. While interpreting, one may get help from precedents. And here two sister jurisdictions will be examined: Pakistan and India.

In Pakistan, a full member bench judgement[5] decides that the term ‘life imprisonment’ means twenty-five years imprisonment. They referred section 57 of PPC and rule 140 of Pakistan Prison rules, 1978 (hereinafter referred as prison rules)[6]. In another case, Supreme Court ruled that the provincial government is empowered under section 401 of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (hereinafter referred as CrPC) read with prison rules, to remit or commute the sentence of convict, subject to the condition that he has undergone fifteen years of imprisonment[7]. In Pakistan, the concept is that after spending fifteen years behind the bars, if the convict is not released on remission or commutation of sentence under section 401 CrPC read with Prison rules; then he will have to wait till the completion of twenty-five years in toto[8].

In India, the situation is altogether different in reckoning the life imprisonment. Their chief case law on this issue is Gopal vinayak godse v State of Maharashtra[9]. In this case the Supreme Court of India held that “sentence of imprisonment for life is not for any definite period and the imprisonment for life must, prima facie, be treated as imprisonment for the whole of the remaining period of the convicted person’s natural life”. And further ruled in paragraph 8 of it, that “The Rules framed under the Prisons Act enable such a prisoner to earn remissions—ordinary, special and State—and the said remissions will be given credit towards his term of imprisonment. For the purpose of working out the remissions the sentence of transportation for life is ordinarily equated with a definite period, but it is only for that particular purpose and not for any other purpose. As the sentence of transportation for life or its prison equivalent, the life imprisonment, is one of indefinite duration, the remissions so earned do not in practice help such a convict as it is not possible to predicate (sic predict) the time of his death. That is why the Rules provide for a procedure to enable the appropriate Government to remit the sentence under Section 401 of the Code of Criminal Procedure on a consideration of the relevant factors, including the period of remissions earned”. Afterwards there is no cavil in this proposition in India that meaning of life imprisonment is, unless properly remitted by respective government, imprisonment for the entire life of convict[10]. They many a times reiterate the Gopal vinayak godse’s case[11] and in Kishori lal’ case of Privy Council[12] in resolving this issue[13].

At last, it can be summarised as, that the Prison rules cannot override the statute[14] and the sentence of imprisonment for life was always meant to be imprisonment till the convict’s natural life[15]. If it had not be, it would be meaningless to place it separately as a punishment for Qatl under section 302 (b) and (c) of PPC[16]. And the redundancy is alien to statutory provisions. Although in practice, due to remission and commutation of sentences, it amounts to incarceration for a period of round-about fourteen, fifteen years or more.  But this also should be “subject to the condition that the sentence of imprisonment shall last as long as life lasts where there are exceptional indications of murderous recidivism and the community cannot run the risk of the convict being at large”[17]. Because the theory of retribution relieves the victims from vengeance, with enforcement of imprisonment till last breath of convict’s life.

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* The author’s name is Hafiz Muhammad Azeem, practicing advocate High Court. He can be contacted on email at Khokhar.azeem@yahoo.com

[1] Section 57. Fractions of terms of punishment: In calculating fractions of terms of punishment, imprisonment for life shall be reckoned as equivalent to imprisonment for twenty-five years.

[2] Dilawar hussain v state 2013 SCMR 1582, Zargul v state 1989 SCMR 529, Muhammad nazir v superintendent 2018 PcrLJ 1185, Muhammad nawaz v state 2017 YLR 419,

[3] Kishori lal v empror AIR 1945 PC 64

[4] Section 57 of Pakistan Penal Code, 1860.

[5] Dilawar hussain v state 2013 SCMR 1582.

[6] Rule 140. (i) Imprisonment for life will mean twenty-five years rigorous imprisonment and every lifer prisoner shall undergo a minimum of fifteen years substantive imprisonment.

(ii) The case of all prisoners sentenced to imprisonment for life shall be referred to Government, through the Inspector General, after they have served fifteen years substantive imprisonment for consideration with reference to section 401 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

(iii) The cases of all prisoners sentenced to cumulative periods of imprisonment aggregating twenty-five years or more shall also be submitted to Government, through the Inspector General, when they have served fifteen years substantive sentence for orders of the Government.

[7] Mst. Zubaida v Falak sher 2007 SCMR 548, abdul malik v state PLD 2006 SC 365. Also see, section 55 of Pakistan Penal Code, 1860.

[8] Bhai khan v state PLD 1992 SC 14.

[9] AIR 1961 SC 600.

[10] Parsanta sen v B K Srivastava and others (2013) 3 SCC 425.

[11] AIR 1961 SC 600.

[12] Kishori lal v empror AIR 1945 PC 64.

[13] Naib singh v state of punjab & ors 1983 SCR (2) 770, State of Madhya Pradesh v Ratan Singh & Ors (1976) 3 SCC 470

[14] Kartar singh & ors v State of Haryana, (1982) 3 SCC 1.

[15] Laxman naskar v Union of India & Ors, (2000) 2 SCC 595, Mohd. Munna v Union of India & Ors. etc. (2005) 7 SCC,  417, Dalbir Singh & Ors v State of Punjab AIR 1979 SC 1384,

[16] See, section 302 of Pakistan penal code, 1860.

[17] Rajendra Prasad v State of U.P. (1979) 3 SCC 646.