CJP to form larger bench to define span of life sentence

Matter will be taken up in first week of October

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan Asif Saeed Khosa has decided to form a larger bench to define the quantum of life imprisonment in Pakistan.

The bench will take up the matter in the first week of October and will aim to settle ambiguity in the law with regards to the span of life imprisonment.

Sentence of imprisonment for life corresponds to a maximum imprisonment of 25 years and in any case cannot be less than 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 first hinted at a review in June this year, while heading a three-judge bench that heard a 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 their life sentences were awarded while specifying the period of imprisonment.

“The span of life imprisonment is regarded as limited to 25 years while it is meant to last a lifetime. The court would thoroughly interpret the law at an appropriate time. Once it happens, convicts will ask for a death sentence instead of life imprisonment,” CJP Khosa had said during the June hearing.

“In India, they clearly mention the number of years a convict has to stay in prison,” he added.

With a larger bench formed to review the matter, notices have been issued to the attorney general for Pakistan and the advocate generals of the four provinces and Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT).