SUBUDHI Vs. STATE OF RAJASTHAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) AS all these petitions raise identical questions they are disposed of by a common order.

(2.) THE petitioners have filed habeas corpus petitions stating that they were convicted for offences under Section 302 IPC and were sentenced to imprisonment for life and that each one of them have undergone imprisonment for a period of more than 14 years. As such it has been prayed that the respondents may be directed to release the petitioners forthwith and set them at liberty.

(3.) THE same view was later expressed by their Lordships of the Supreme Court in State of Madhya Pradesh vs. Ratan Singh (2), wherein it was observed that a sentence for life would enure till the life time of the accused, as it is not possible to fix a particular time of the prisoners death; so any remissions allowed under the rules could not be regarded as a substitute for a sentence in the case of imprisonment for life. THE Rules framed under the Prisons Act or under the Jail Manual do not affect the total period which the prisoner has to suffer, but they merely amount to administrative instructions with regard to the various remissions to be given to the prisoner from time to time.