Modifying Life Term Sentence As Fixed Sentence Permissible : Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Tuesday (May 26) reaffirmed the settled proposition of law that the imposition of a life imprisonment sentence on the convict would not bar the modification of the sentence to a fixed-term sentence when the convict had already undergone more than 14 years of imprisonment.

“…when a sentence of life imprisonment is imposed, Section 53 read with Section 45 of the IPC would convey the meaning that it is till the natural life subject to the right of claiming remission. Hence, modifying a sentence of life imprisonment and imposing a fixed sentence is permissible…”, observed a bench of Justice K.V. Viswanathan and Justice Vijay Bishnoi, relying on Shiva Kumar versus State of Karnataka, 2023 LiveLaw (SC) 252.

The Appellant-convicts, who had already served about 23 years imprisonment for an offence of murder, appealed to the Supreme Court against the Gujarat High Court's decision, which had upheld the trial court's decision of conviction and imposition of a life imprisonment sentence on them.

While refusing to interfere with the concurrent findings of the Court below on their conviction, the Supreme Court found substance in the Appellants' argument regarding modification of the sentence from that of life imprisonment to the period of sentence already undergone by them.

The Appellants placed reliance on Union of India v. V. Sriharan, (2016) 7 SCC 1 and Shiva Kumar (Supra), to contend that they were entitled to the modification in sentence by the Constitutional Courts as they had served more than 14 years of imprisonment, which qualified them to claim modification in sentence from life imprisonment to a fixed term sentence.

Finding force in the Appellant's contention, the judgment authored by Justice Viswanathan, while maintaining the conviction, modified the sentence of the appellant to the period already undergone.

Accordingly, the appeal was partly allowed, directing the release of the Appellants.

Headnote

Indian Penal Code, 1860 — Section 53 & Section 302 — Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 — Section 433-A — Modification of Life Sentence to Fixed Term — Constitutional courts (the High Courts and the Supreme Court) possess the power to modify a sentence of life imprisonment to a fixed-term sentence or to the period already undergone, provided that the period imposed is not less than 14 years of imprisonment - Such modification of a life sentence to a specific term of incarceration does not amount to an enhancement of the sentence - Held: When a sentence of life imprisonment is imposed, Section 53 read with Section 45 of the IPC conveys the meaning that it is for the rest of the natural life of the prisoner, subject to the right of claiming remission - Modifying a sentence of life imprisonment and imposing a fixed sentence is fully permissible as long as the period imposed exceeds fourteen years of imprisonment - Considering that the appellant was 21 years old at the time of the incident in 1998 and has already undergone 23 years, 6 months, and 3 days of imprisonment without remission, the Supreme Court modified the life sentence to the period already undergone and directed his immediate release. [Relied on Union of India v. V. Sriharan, (2016) 7 SCC 1; Shiva Kumar alias Shiva alias Shivamurthy v. State of Karnataka, (2023) 9 SCC 817; Paras 10-18]

Cause Title: Munna Moyuddin Shaikh Versus State of Gujarat

Citation : 2026 LiveLaw (SC) 548

Click here to download judgment

Appearance:

For Petitioner(s) Ms. Jaikriti S. Jadeja, AOR

For Respondent(s) Ms. Swati Ghildiyal, AOR Mr. Adarsh Dubey, Adv.