Except in rape cases, trial courts can't sentence convicts to life imprisonment till death: Calcutta High Court

The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday issued a directive to trial courts in West Bengal stating that a sentence of life imprisonment till death, without any scope of remission, can only be passed in rape cases [Monirul Molla v. State of West Bengal]..A Bench of Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Bivas Pattanayak reiterated that such life imprisonment till one's death can only be imposed by the higher judiciary when commuting death sentences.Relying on the Supreme Court decisions in Union of India v. V Sriharan Alias Murugan and Others and Gauri Shankar v. State of Punjab, the Bench issued the following direction to all trial court judges in the State:“Except in cases where the law provides for a sentence of imprisonment for life which shall mean imprisonment for the remainder of the person’s natural life (e.g., sections 376A, 376AB, 376D, 376DA, 376DB and 376E of I.P.C.), trial Courts while imposing a sentence of life imprisonment as provided under section 53 of I.P.C. shall not qualify the said sentence by directing that the sentence shall continue till the death of the convict or without remission as prescribed in law.”.The High Court's Registrar-General was directed to circulate the directive to all judicial officers in the State for "intimation and due adherence in future" and "so that in similar cases they do not fall in error"..In the present case, the Court was hearing an appeal against a conviction for murder and offences under the Arms Act, where the sentence of one of the appellants was of life imprisonment till death. While upholding the conviction, the Bench took note of the "propensity amongst the trial Court judges to impose a sentence of life imprisonment with qualifications like the present one."The Bench reiterated that such sentences cannot be imposed by a trial court, but only by the Supreme Court or High Courts on converting a death sentence to one of life imprisonment. "Even then, the Court’s discretion does not encroach on the constitutional powers of the President of India or the Governor under Article 72/161 of the Constitution of India respectively," the High Court observed..The Bench noted that the trial court had erred, and modified the sentence of an appellant to be open to remission, as per the interpretation of Sections 43 and 45 (punishment for murder to be death or life imprisonment) of the Indian Penal Code by the Supreme Court in Gopal Vinayak Godse v. State of Maharashtra.The period of detention the appellants had undergone during investigation, enquiry and trial will be set off from the sentence, the Court added..Advocates Fazlur Rahman, Nasra Ali Rahman, Krishna Yadav, Priya Ghosal, Uday Sankar Chattopadhyay, Suman Sankar Chattopadhyay, Santanu Maji, Subhayu Das, Snigdha Saha, and Pronoy Basak appeared for the appellants. Senior Advocates Swapan Banerjee and Sudip Ghosh with Advocates Anindya Sundar Chatterjee, Bitasok Banerjee, and Apurba Kumar Dutta appeared for the State..[Read judgment]