Deduct time served in jail during trial from imprisonment tenure: SC

The Supreme Court today ruled that the term any convict has served in jail during trial proceedings will be deducted from the total tenure of his/her imprisonment.

A five-member full bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, passed the order during delivering verdict on an appeal filed by a convict named Md Younus Ali -- challenging a High Court verdict that sentenced him to life imprisonment in a murder case.

The bench also asked the home ministry to take necessary steps to this effect.

The apex court also asked the jail authorities to release Younus Ali from jail if he has already served life imprisonment in the case filed against him.

Younus' lawyer Golam Abbas Chowdhury Dulal told the SC that his client has already served 26 years in jail.

Deputy Attorney General Bishwajit Debnath told The Daily Star that according to Section 35A (1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, the tenure of any convict serving in jail during trial is supposed to be deducted from the total imprisonment handed down by the court concerned to him or her in the case.

The section says, "Except in the case of an offence punishable only with death, when any court finds an accused guilty of an offence and, upon conviction, sentences such accused to any term of imprisonment, simple or rigorous, it shall deduct from the sentence of imprisonment, the total period the accused may have been in custody in the meantime, in connection with that offence".

He said a lower court had sentenced Younus Ali to death in the case and the High Court has commuted his death sentence to life imprisonment in the same case.

Younus then filed an appeal with the SC seeking release from jail claiming that he has already suffered in jail for 26 years, the DAG added.  

The SC in a verdict in Ataur Mridha Vs Bangladesh case said life imprisonment means 30 years in jail and a convict awarded such a sentence should get remission of seven and a half years as per the laws.

"In Bangladesh, life sentences have become a complex patchwork of judicial and executive orders. A young person sentenced to imprisonment for life could theoretically serve many more years in jail than an older person. An older person has a significantly greater chance of serving the rest of his life in jail.

"Many prisoners serving life sentences will likely die in prison. The society should find a humane way of handling life sentences," the Appellate Division of the SC observed in the full text of the verdict in Ataur Mridha Vs Bangladesh case released on July 15 this year.

Interpreting the observations, lawyer of Ataur Mridha Vs Bangladesh case Mohammad Shishir Manir told The Daily Star that prisoners who have been sentenced to life imprisonment will have to serve 30 years and will get the remission.

"It means, convicts awarded life imprisonment will have to remain behind bar for a total of 22 and a half years," he said.