DHARAMBIR Vs. STATE OF UTTAR PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) We are not impressed with the grounds urged before us and so dismiss the Special Leave Petition. The conviction being one under Section 302, Indian Penal Code the sentence awarded, namely, one of life imprisonment is beyond interference, conviction and sentence must, therefore, stand.

(2.) We, however, notice that the petitioners in this case are in their early twenties. We must naturally give thought to the impact on these two young lives of a life sentence which means languishing in prison for years and years. Such induration of the soul induced by indefinite incarceration hardens the inmates, not softens their responses. Things as they are, long prison terms do not humanise or habilitate but debase and promote recidivism. A host of other vices, which are unmentionable in a judgment, haunt the long careers of incarceration, especially when young persons are forced into cells in the company of callous convicts who live in sex-starved circumstances. Therefore, the conscience of the court constrains it to issue appropriate directions which are policy-oriented, as part of the sentencing process, designed to make the life of the sentence inside jail restorative of his crippled psyche. One of the principal purpose of punitive deprivation of liberty, constitutionally sanctioned, is decriminalisation of the criminal and restoration his dignity, self-esteem and good citizenship, so that when the man emerges from the forbidding gates he becomes a socially useful individual. From the angle our prisons have to travel long distances to meet the ends of social justice.

(3.) In the present case, we think it proper to direct that the State Government and the Superintendent of the Prison concerned will ensure that the two prisoners are put to meaningful employment and, if permissible, to open prisons, as an experimental measure. Counsel for the State represents that there are open prisons in the State of Uttar Pradesh. We direct the State Government to despatch these two prisoners to one of the open prisons in Uttar Pradesh without standing on technical rules, if substantially they fulfil the required conditions.