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SC: Sessions Courts Cannot Impose "Life Till Death" Sentence for Murder
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News18•24-09-2026, 20:15
SC: Sessions Courts Cannot Impose "Life Till Death" Sentence for Murder
- •The Supreme Court ruled that sessions courts cannot mandate a convict to remain in prison for the remainder of their natural life for murder.
- •While life imprisonment means imprisonment for life, sessions courts cannot curtail statutory powers of remission and commutation.
- •The power to impose a special category sentence of life imprisonment without remission belongs to Constitutional Courts, not sessions courts.
- •A sessions court's direction for imprisonment to continue till the end of natural life conflicts with the statutory scheme.
- •The SC upheld convictions in a triple-murder case but substituted the "life till death" sentence with 25 years rigorous imprisonment without remission benefits.
Key Questions Answered
No, the Supreme Court held that sessions courts cannot curtail statutory powers of remission and commutation by directing that a convict remain in prison for the remainder of their natural life, as that power belongs exclusively to Constitutional Courts.
The Supreme Court set aside the trial court's direction requiring the appellants to remain in prison for the rest of their lives and substituted it with rigorous imprisonment for 25 years without the benefit of statutory remission.
The Supreme Court modified the sentence originally imposed by the trial court in 2014 and subsequently affirmed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on December 12, 2022.
