IMPORTANT POINT
Right to remission is a constitutional right as well as a statutory right.

JUDGMENT :

B.V. NAGARATHNA, J.

Leave granted.

2. The appellants herein have impugned the final order and judgment dated 31.01.2023 passed in CRA No.167 of 2020 by the High Court at Calcutta, by which it commuted the award of death penalty to life imprisonment, however without the possibility of remission till the end of the appellants’ natural lives.

3. The brief facts of the case are that on 13.12.2014 at about 3:00 p.m., the appellants contacted the deceased victim’s father, demanding ransom in exchange for the victim’s father, demanding ransom in exchange for the victim’s return. The next day, i.e. on 14.12.2014, the police arrested three persons including the appellants herein and one juvenile. Based on their statements, the police recovered the victim’s dead body from the bank of the river Ganga, where it had been buried in a gunny bag. After investigation, a charge sheet was filed under Sections 363, 364A, 376(2)(i), 302, and 201 of the Indian Penal Code (for short, “IPC”) read with Section 6 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (for short, “POCSO Act”). The juvenile accused was sent to the Juvenile Justice Board, Hooghly at Serampore but the appellants herein faced trial before the Sessions Court in accordance with law. Charges were later altered to include common intention under Section 34 of the IPC.

4. The Sessions Court in S.T. (Spl.) No.26/15 on 22.10.2020 held that the appellants herein had kidnapped the deceased-victim, raped and murdered her in furtherance of their common intention and attempted to destroy evidence by concealing the body. Accordingly, appellants were found guilty under Sections 363/34, 364/34, 376(2)(i), 302/34, and 201 of the IPC read with Section 6 of the POCSO Act and sentenced them to death penalty.

5. Later, the Division Bench of the High Court vide the impugned judgment commuted the award of death penalty to life imprisonment, however without the possibility of remission till the end of their natural lives. It is pertinent to mention that on the date of the crime, appellant No.1 was aged 22 years and appellant No.2 was aged 19 years.

6. Notice was issued in this matter to the respondent/State only insofar as the quantum of sentence to be imposed on the appellants herein.

7. By way of the impugned judgment dated 31.01.2023, the Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court in CRA No.167/2020, while commuting death penalty to life imprisonment, also noted in Paragraph 105 that life imprisonment ought to be without the possibility of remission till the end of the appellant’s natural life. For ease of reference, paragraph 105 of the impugned judgment is extracted as under:

“In view of the State having failed to place any material to establish that the appellants cannot be reformed and are beyond scope of rehabilitation, the award of death penalty is commuted to one of life imprisonment. Keeping in view the brutality of the offence committed, it would be appropriate that, the appellants be sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of remission till the end of their natural life.”

8. Learned counsel for the appellants submitted that, no doubt, the High Court granted relief from death penalty; however, it was still harsh in imposing the sentence of life imprisonment inasmuch as it is without the possibility of remission till the end of the appellant’s natural life. That there are two disadvantages to the appellants in this sentence inasmuch as firstly, the life imprisonment is not for a fixed term but till the end of the natural life of the appellants; and secondly, the relief of possibility of remission is also taken away. In the circumstances, it was contended that the High Court was not justified in imposing a double hardship on the appellants herein. It was contended that having regard to the judgments of this Court in the case of Union of India vs. V. Sriharan alias Murugan, (2016)7 SCC 1 and Sukhdev Yadav alia Pehalwan vs. State of (NCT of Delhi), (2025) SCC OnLine S