LIFE IMPRISONMENT DURATION
Review petition submitted against SC observation
STAFF REPORTER
A review petition was filed with the Supreme Court against its observation that life imprisonment means sentence until death.
Supreme Court Advocate Shishir Manir filed the review petition with the related branch of the Supreme Court seeking reconsideration of its observation that life imprisonment means sentence until death. Earlier, on April 24, in a verdict the Supreme Court commuted the death penalty of two convicts to imprisonment until death with an observation that life imprisonment means sentence until death.
In its short order, the apex court had, on February 14, delivered the verdict on the appeals of two convicts-- Ataur Mridha and Anwar Hossain-- who were sentenced to death by a Speedy Trial Tribunal in a case filed for killing one Jamal in Savar in 2001.
The convicts filed appeals before the High Court against the lower court order. But the High Court upheld the death penalty. The convicts then moved the apex court, which commuted their death penalty to life imprisonment, mentioning that it will be considered as jail until death. The verdict states that life imprisonment, within the meaning of Section 53 read with Section 45 of the Penal Code, means imprisonment for rest of the life of the convict.
According to the Section 57 of the Penal Code, in calculating fractions of terms of punishment, imprisonment for life shall be reckoned as equivalent to rigorous imprisonment for thirty years.
Section 57 of the Penal Code is only for the purpose of working out the fractions of the maximum sentence fixed for the principal offence, that is to say, if such provision is not made, it would have been impossible to work out the fractions of an indefinite term the apex court verdict explained.
Advocate Khandaker Mahbub Hossain, former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, said life imprisonment refers to a 30-year term in jail as per Section 57 of the Penal Code.
Criminal law expert advocate Khurshid Alam Khan said Section 53 of the Penal Code, 1860, specifies five types of punishments: life imprisonment, death penalty, simple or rigorous imprisonment, forfeiture of property and monetary fine. Referring to Section 57 of the Penal Code, Khan said this section clearly stated that the duration of life imprisonment would be 30 years. When the court sentences one to life imprisonment, the accused has to serve a total of 30 years, he added.
