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Posted on 16 November 2012
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| CURRENT AFFAIRS |
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JAMMU & KASHMIR |
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Life sentence means incarceration for life: HC
Kashmir's longest serving separatist prisoner Dr Ashaq Hussain Faktoo’s plea for release was dismissed even after he served 20 years in prison
Riyaz Wani
Srinagar
When a person is awarded a life sentence it doesn’t mean imprisonment for 14 or 20 years but the entire life-span, said JK High Court to Kashmir’s longest serving separatist prisoner Dr Ashaq Hussain Faktoo on Friday 16 November.
“Life imprisonment means an imprisonment for the whole of a convict’s natural life and does not automatically expire on his serving a sentence of 14 years or 20 years unless, of course, the sentence is remitted or commuted by the government in accordance with law,” said the HC in its order on the petition filed by Dr Faktoo seeking his release following completion of more than 20 years in prison. “There is no provision in the Ranbir Penal Code or the State Code of Criminal Procedure providing to the contrary or prescribing any definite period for life imprisonment,” the court added.
The court further said that the power to remit or commute the sentence falls within the exclusive domain of the government. It further added that there is also no provision either in the Indian Penal Code or in th
Dr Faktoo, who is the husband of Dukhtaran-i-Millat chief Asiya Andrabi, has been in jail for more than 20 years. He was convicted for the murder of Human Rights activist Hriday Nath Wanchoo in 1992. Dr Faktoo is a senior leader of the pro-Pakistan Muslim League.
Mian Abdul Qayoom, counsel for Dr Faktoo, however, vehemently argued that in terms of Section 57 of the Ranbir Penal Code, life imprisonment means incarceration for 20 years. However, the court in its response said that the argument, “though attractive”, is devoid of any force. “The object of said section is how to calculate the fractions of terms of punishment and provides that imprisonment for life shall be reckoned as equivalent to imprisonment for 20 years, when punishment is to be awarded to a co-accused, who is also involved in the same offence either by abetment, conspiracy or attempt, in which the main accused is awarded the sentence of imprisonment for life,” the court said. “It is equally well-settled that Section 57 of the Penal Code does not in any way limit the punishment of imprisonment for life to a term of 20 years.”
The court also played down Qayoom’s argument that the provisions contained in the Jail Manual, Prisons Act and Prisoners Act mandate that imprisonment for life means 20 years. “The argument has no force for the simple reason that the provisions contained in the Jail Manual, Prisons Act and Prisoners Act are just how to regulate and manage the prisoners in the prisons.”
Riyaz Wani is a Special Correspondent with Tehelka.
riyaz@tehelka.com
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