criminal matter. How to proceed ?

878 votes

if any one is awarded punishment of life ....,then normally he has to serve simple/ rigorous imprisonment for 14 years in the jail.but it depends upon the nature of offence....in some cases convicted is to remain whole natural life or 20 years.... one can take assistance of lawyer in vicinity for better relief.

Advocate Riti Sarkar LawRato

619 votes

Recently the Apex court clarified that life imprisonment does not mean confinement in jail for 14 years as was the public perception ,but the highest court of the country ruled that life imprisonment means spending the rest of life in the jail.

Advocate GK Gupta LawRato

657 votes

Dear friend,
India's Supreme Court has already clarified that life imprisonment means that the convict will be in prison till the end of his or her life.

The 14 year limit comes from a separate provision in the Criminal Procedure Code. This provision states that state governments can grant remission to the sentence awarded by the court. However, in such cases, the sentence can't be reduced to anything less than 14 years.

Often it is observed that some state governments have been misusing this provision and have been reducing sentences of life convicts in a wholesale manner, without following the guidelines. Thus all those sentenced to life started to get released in 14 years and thus this misconception spread out that life sentence means 14 yeara.

The state government can release the prisoner who completed 14 years sentence. Which does not mean all prisoners are eligible for release after 14 years. It is under the discretionary power of the state government. The state government can grant or deny in one-to-one basis.

Advocate Anand Sahu LawRato