The Supreme Court has upheld the constitutional validity of sentences directing convicts to remain imprisoned for the remainder of their natural lives without the possibility of remission. A Bench comprising Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Augustine George Masih dismissed a batch of writ petitions challenging such sentences as unconstitutional and inconsistent with statutory remission provisions. The petitions were filed by four sets of convicts, including prisoners whose death sentences had either been commuted by constitutional authorities or modified by courts to imprisonment for the remainder of their natural lives. The Court’s ruling confirms that courts can impose imprisonment extending for the convict’s entire natural life in appropriate cases, without necessarily providing an entitlement to remission under the ordinary statutory framework. The judgment addresses an important constitutional and criminal-law question concerning the relationship between judicially imposed sentences, remission powers and the rights of convicts.
