Life imprisonment means for life, not 14 years, clarifies Supreme Court

New Delhi – Life sentence means imprisonment for life and is not equivalent to imprisonment for 14 years or 20 years, the Supreme Court of India has clarified, while dismissing a writ petition – a decision that will have far–reaching implications.

Life term punishment is a class of penalty “different from ordinary imprisonment and it must be treated as imprisonment for the remaining period of the convict's natural life,” the apex court has observed.

Unless it was commuted or remitted by the appropriate authority, a prisoner sentenced to life imprisonment was bound by the law to serve the entire life term in prison, it explained.

The issue came up when a writ petition, filed by a life convict, challenged his incarceration for more than 21 years, though under normal circumstances he ought to have been released either at the end of 14 or 20 years. Besides immediate release, the petitioner also sought compensation from West Bengal for detaining him “illegally.”

Presently, India is facing the problem of over–crowded prisons, most of which are not suitably equipped to contain the convicts and it is feared that the judgment may add to the woes of the thousands of prisoners who are already undergoing life sentence.