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CJP seeks to review life imprisonment law

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CJP seeks to review life imprisonment law

We will interpret the law correctly at an appropriate time. Once it happens, convicts will ask for a death sentence instead of life imprisonment



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https://nation.com.pk/NewsSource/app
APP June 18, 2019

ISLAMABAD - Chief Justice of Pakistan Asif Saeed Khosa Monday said that the current interpretation of the life imprisonment law was flawed and expressed the intent to reexamine it at an “appropriate time”.

The Supreme Court rejected a review petition filed by a death sentence convict Abdul Qayyum.

A three-member Bench of the court, headed by Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa and comprising Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed, heard the review appeal and maintained death sentence.

During the hearing, Khosa said that the span of life imprisonment is limited to 25 years when it is meant to last a lifetime. He expressed the intent to review the law and said: “We will interpret the law correctly at an appropriate time. Once it happens, convicts will ask for a death sentence instead of life imprisonment. Once it happens, we’ll see who commits murder.”

Referring to judicial practice in India, the chief justice remarked that there life sentences were given with period of imprisonment.

This is not the first time that the judiciary has made such observations. In 2004, a five-member bench heard as many as 62 appeals that urged the apex court to reinstate death penalty for convicts whose capital punishments were commuted into life imprisonment leading to their release on the basis of remission in their imprisonment periods.

Section 57 of the Pakistan Penal Code, Fractions of terms of punishment, says: “In calculating fractions of terms of punishment, imprisonment for life shall be reckoned as equivalent to imprisonment for twenty-five years.”

The Supreme Court, however, had observed in 2004 that the provisions of the aforementioned section, which reckon 25-year imprisonment as transportation for life, only stipulate the calculation of the punishment term which is necessary because certain offences are a fraction of the term of imprisonment prescribed for other offences.
 
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CJP questions why life sentence corresponds to maximum imprisonment of 25 years

October 2, 2019

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Justice Asif Saeed Khosa. PHOTO: EXPRESS

ISLAMABAD: The Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Asif Saeed Khosa on Wednesday questioned why life sentence corresponded to the maximum imprisonment of 25 years.

A seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court led by the CJP resumed hearing of the case to determine the span of life imprisonment. The CJP said that it was matter of principles which will affect thousands of cases.

“How life imprisonment can be fixed for 25 years in prison when the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) is silent on the matter?” the CJP questioned.

Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) members Ahsan Bhoon and Azam Tarar appeared before the bench and stated that the bar wants to become a party to the case.

However, the matter has been postponed as the petitioner requested to file a fresh plea in the case.

Earlier in July, a three-judge bench, led by CJP, questioned whether life imprisonment meant imprisonment of a convict for his remaining biological life or anything shorter than that – and if so, whether different sentences of imprisonment for life passed in the same case or different cases were to run concurrently or consecutively.

“The question has appeared to us to be a question of immense public importance affecting a larger number of cases in the country,” said CJP Khosa.

Currently, the sentence of life imprisonment corresponds to a maximum imprisonment of 25 years, and a minimum of 15 years (per Rule 140 of the Pakistan Prison Rules 1978); after earning remissions as may be extended by the executive functionaries from time-to-time but subject to Section 401 CrPC, Rule 216 and Rule 218 of the Pakistan Prison Rules, 1978.

The jail manual also provides for at least a 14-year substantive period for those sentenced to life imprisonment. Section 57 of the Criminal Procedure Code stipulates that life imprisonment will be 25 years.

The CJP had hinted at interpreting the ambiguity of the life sentence while hearing review appeal of a death row convict, Abdul Qayyum. During the hearing, Justice Khosa had remarked that the current interpretation of life imprisonment law was flawed.

Referring to judicial practice in India, the chief justice remarked that life sentences in India are given after specifying the period of imprisonment.
 
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