Supreme Court: Sessions court cannot impose life without remission

The Supreme Court on Thursday held that a sessions court cannot impose a special category sentence directing a convict to remain in prison for the remainder of their natural life, excluding the statutory remission and commutation regime. A bench of Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice Vipul M Pancholi said this power belongs only to constitutional courts, namely high courts and the Supreme Court, and not to inferior criminal courts.

The court upheld the conviction of two men for the murder of a woman and her two minor daughters in Ludhiana, Punjab in December 2009. However, it modified the sentence imposed by the sessions court and affirmed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The direction that the appellants remain in prison for the rest of their life was set aside and substituted with rigorous imprisonment for 25 years, without the benefit of statutory remission.