GOPAKUMAR CONVICT Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioner, Gopakumar (Convict No. 4307) is an inmate of Central Prison, Thiruvananthapuram. He was convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for life in SC No. 89 of 1996 on the file of the Sessions Court, Kollam under S.302 IPC. The conviction was on 17/09/1997. Subsequently he has been convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for life on 20/01/2000 in SC No. 193 of 1994 on the file of the I Addl. Sessions Court, Thiruvananthapuram. He prays for concurrence in the sentence by virtue of S.427(2) CrPC. This petition has been necessitated on account of the alleged refusal on the part of the authorities of the Central Prison, Thiruvananthapuram to recognize the above position.

(2.) S.427 reads as follows:

(3.) A reading of sub-section 2 of S.427 does not admit of any doubt at all. When a person already undergoing imprisonment for life is sentenced on a subsequent conviction to imprisonment for a term or imprisonment for life the above provision directs that the subsequent sentence shall run concurrently with such previous sentence. No declaration by Court is necessary if the facts attract sub-section 2 of S.427 CrPC. Hence, even without a declaration, the prison authorities have to comply with the law and treat the subsequent sentence as concurrent.