Judgment :

Leave granted.

Heard the learned counsel for the parties.

The appellant was sentenced to imprisonment for life under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (I.P.C.), 10 years' rigorous imprisonment under Section 307 I.P.C. and 10 years' rigorous imprisonment under Section 333 I.P.C. While sentencing the appellant, the Additional Sessions Judge, Ludhiana, did not grant him benefit of set off under Section 428 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, on the basis of the judgment of this Court in Kartar Singh vs. State of Haryana, [AIR 1982 SC 1439 =1982 (3) SCC 1].

A Constitution Bench of this Court in the case of Bhagirath vs. Delhi Administration, [1985 (2) SCC 580], has specifically overruled Kartar Singh's judgment (supra), the relevant paragraph of which reads as under:

"We have considered with great care the reasoning upon which the decision in Kartar Singh (1982 3 SCC 1) proceeds. With respect, we are unable to agree with the decision. We have already discussed why imprisonment for life is imprisonment for a term, within the meaning of section 428. We would like to add that we find it difficult to agree that the expressions 'imprisonment for life' and 'imprisonment for a ter