Life convicts entitled to be set off: HC

Mumbai, May 3 (UNI) In an important ruling that will benefit thousands of convicts undergoing life sentence in Maharashtra, the Bombay High Court today held that the provisions of 2005 amendment to Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) will apply retrospectively and persons convicted even before the amendment comes into effect will be entitled to be set off as provided in the amended proviso.

While hearing an application filed by a convict Bhalu Patil from Kolhapur, who was seeking to be set off for the term undergone by him as undertrial prisoner, Justice J H Bhatia held that section added by the state government to CrPC by way of amendment in the year 2005 would apply restrospectively, to convicts, convicted even before the date on which the amendment came into effect, but still serving the sentence.

The court held that, the proviso -- added to section 428 of the CrPC -- comes into picture only when an appropriate order is passed by the state government remitting or commuting sentence of the convict to 14 years of imprisonment. In that case, the court ruled, the convict shall be entitled to set off for a period, which the convict might have undergone as an undertrial prisoner.

This ruling has been regarded as an important one, as thousands of convicts sentenced to life term will benefit from it, as till date period of imprisonment was being considered while calculating a term of sentence of the life convicts only after conviction.

Patil, convicted for murder and sentenced to undergo life imprisonment, was denied being set off by the jail authorities. He had undergone roughly 13 months as an undertrial.

UNI