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The life imprisonment implies a jail term till the end of convict’s life and it is not limited to merely 14 or 20 years, which is a misconception, the Supreme Court (SC) has held in a significant ruling.
“It appears to us there is a misconception that a prisoner serving a life sentence has an indefeasible right to be released on completion of either fourteen years or twenty years imprisonment. The prisoner has no such right.”
“A convict undergoing life imprisonment is expected to remain in custody till the end of his life, subject to any remission granted by the appropriate government,” said a Bench of justices K S Radhakrishnan and Madan B Lokur.
The apex court also put an end to the practice of en masse release of the convicts by various governments on “festive” occasions and said each release requires a case-by-case basis scrutiny.
The Bench said it is not permissible on part of courts to sentence a convict in a capital offence for 20 years or 30 years imprisonment without remission as it restrains the relevant government from granting remission on the sentence of a convict.
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