The Supreme Court has set out to examine whether a convict punished with a life term should undergo rigorous imprisonment in jail, as the Indian Penal Code does not provide for ‘rigorous’ imprisonment for life.
The Bench of Justices PC Ghose and UU lalit stumbled upon this legal flaw, while dealing with a case filed by a life convict Ram Kumar from Chhattisgarh. The convict, represented by senior advocate Parmananda Katara submitted before the Court that under Section 53 of the Indian Penal Code, the courts can award a death sentence, a life sentence, or an imprisonment of a specified term which can be either rigorous (served with hard labour) or simple.
In the case of Ram Kumar, the courts below found him guilty of stabbing to death one Anil Bhoya in Durg Chhattisgarh on January 5, 2010 and sentenced him to rigorous life sentence, which according to Katara was legally void and impermissible. “The award of rigorous life imprisonment by the lower court and the Chhattisgarh High Court is violative of Article 21 (protection of life and liberty) and Article 14 (right to equality) of the Constitution,” Katara said.
The bench, a little taken aback by this submission, decided to examine the question threadbare and issued notice to the Centre and Chhattisgarh Government seeking their response within four weeks.