By: Agrani Khare
Abstract:
This article is an analytical research on the power of appropriate government to reducing the punishment of life imprisonment, imposed by the Court on the offenders, mentioned under Section 55 of the Indian Penal Code. The author has tried to summarize the provision and the ambit of this section and its application in certain cases. The description in this article solely focuses to help develop an understanding towards ‘why would such a law exist?’ and ‘what could possibly be the reason for such commuting of punishment of the wrongdoers?’. It focuses on the essence of the law and the powers it grants to the appropriate government.
Body:
The Section 55, Commutation of sentence of imprisonment for life, as mentioned in the Indian Penal Code, specifies that, “In every case in which sentence of imprisonment for life shall have been passed, the appropriate Government may, without the consent of the offender, commute the punishment for imprisonment of either description for a term not exceeding fourteen years.” Deriving the meaning and essence of this law in common words, it means that, in cases where the sentence of imprisonment for life has been announced by the Court, the appropriate government (meaning, central government or the government of the state)1, without the consent or consultation of the offender, reduce the punishment to less than fourteen years of imprisonment. This new punishment imposed by the appropriate government may either be rigorous imprisonment2 or simple imprisonment. The punishment of life imprisonment when announced by the court, means, till the natural death of the person, he/she shall remain in prison. It is the power of the appropriate government to exercise its power in commuting this punishment into any term which shall not be more than fourteen years.
Sentence of life imprisonment is given in different types of offences:
Firstly, in offences where the last punishment that can be given by the court is the death penalty. E.g., in cases of murder.
Secondly, in offences where the last punishment that can be given by the court is the life imprisonment. E.g., in cases of dowry death.
1 https://www.lawinsider.com/dictionary/appropriate-government
2 https://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/rigorous-or-simple-imprisonment-for-lifers-sc-to- examine- 112101000502_1.html#:~:text=A%20person%20sentenced%20to%20simple,labour%20during%20his%2Fher% 20term.&text=Hence%20in%20the%20absence%20of,to%20rigorous%20imprisonment%2C%20he%20conten ded.
And thirdly, in offences where the Court has given the death penalty to someone for an offence. Later, this punishment is commuted into life sentence.
It is in the first two types of cases that the appropriate government can exercise this power over the decision of the court.
The cases falling under the conditions of first and third examples mentioned above, are dealt with the procedure provided under Section 433 A of the Criminal Procedure Code. This section of the Cr.P.C. adds clarity to section 55 of IPC by stating that, “notwithstanding anything contained in section 432, where the sentence of imprisonment for life is imposed on the conviction of a person for an offence for which death is one of the punishment imposed by laws, the sentence of death imposed on a person has been commuted under section 433 into one of the imprisonment for life, such person shall not be released from prison, unless he has served at least fourteen years of imprisonment.”3 It means that in cases where death penalty could be imposed but instead the Court gave the sentence for life imprisonment, or in cases where the punishment of death penalty has been reduced to life imprisonment, the offender compulsorily has to be in detention for not less than fourteen years and cannot be released, even by the appropriate government, before the completion of fourteen years of imprisonment.
On reading section 55 of IPC and section 433 of Cr. P. C, together, it can be concluded that, in cases where death penalty remains an option of punishment, the offender is bound to remain in prison for at least 14 years and cannot be released from prison even by the appropriate government. In cases where the maximum punishment of the offence committed by the offender is life imprisonment, E.g., in the offence of rape, the minimum punishment by the Court to the offender can be seven years and the maximum may be life imprisonment,4 the appropriate government can reduce the punishment of the offender from life imprisonment to less than fourteen years, i.e., 13 or 12 or 9, etc. years, but this relaxation shall not be less than the minimum time specified in the law, i.e., for the offence of rape, the appropriate government cannot release the offender before completion of the minimum tenure of punishment recommended, i.e., seven years. Similarly, in cases of offence of dowry death, Section 304 B of the Cr, P. C. specifies that, “whoever commits dowry death shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than seven years but which may extend to imprisonment for life,”5 the appropriate government cannot reduce the punishment of the offender to be less than the minimum tenure as mentioned in the law, i.e., seven years.
3 https://indiankanoon.org/doc/237247/
4
https://www.advocatekhoj.com/library/bareacts/criminallawamendment/9.php?Title=Criminal%20Law%20%2 8Amendment%29%20Act,%202013&STitle=For%20sections%20375,376,376A,%20376B,%20376Cand%20376D
%20of%20the%20Penal%20Code,%20the%20following%20sections%20shall%20be%20substituted,%20namely #:~:text=376.,also%20be%20liable%20to%20fine.
5 https://www.indiacode.nic.in/show-
data?actid=AC_CEN_5_23_00037_186045_1523266765688&orderno=342#:~:text=(2)%20Whoever%20commi ts%20dowry%20death,extend%20to%20imprisonment%20for%20life.%5D
Conclusion:
This law restores the power of the appropriate government to commute the punishment of life imprisonment of an offender, given to him/her by the Court, and reduce it to a tenure of less than fourteen years and more than the minimum punishment recommended in specific laws. The appropriate government takes a step like this only when it finds the offender to be improving and proving to be fit for the society again. This provision exists in the law system of India in order to ensure continued beliefs of its citizens in rehabilitation and restoration of humanity in offenders.
