High Court said that half of life term means 10 years, since under Indian Penal Code (IPC) for fractions, a “life imprisonment” is to be taken as 20 years.
When it is mentioned that it should be one-half of the life imprisonment, the exact meaning is in section 57 of IPC, which says ‘In calculating fractions in terms of punishment, imprisonment for life shall be reckoned as equivalent to imprisonment for 20 years’. “Thus, half of life imprisonment in such cases would mean imprisonment for 10 years,” said Justice S V Kotwal, finding “no ambiguity or confusion” in the 2018 High Court order.
A man convicted for rape and under POCSO had appealed before the High Court in 2017. In January 2018, the High Court had quashed his conviction for rape under section 376 of IPC and aggravated penetrative sexual assault under section 6 of POCSO, and instead convicted him for a lesser offence under section 18 of POCSO (punishment for attempt to commit an offence) read with section 6 of POCSO and under section 511 of IPC read with section 376 (2) of IPC. The HC had directed him to “suffer rigorous imprisonment for one half of the imprisonment for life”, as provided under these sections.
Section 18 of POCSO says anyone attempting to commit a POCSO offence will be punished with one half of the life imprisonment or of the longest term it attracts. Similarly, according to an offence under section 511, a person who attempts to commit an offence punishable with life imprisonment shall serve half of the life imprisonment.
Advocate Drupad Patil as an amicus curiae (friend of court) and additional public prosecutor Yogesh Dabke said there was reason for the jailor to seek High Court clarification, as the law was clear and the issue was dealt with earlier in 2011, by the HC too. Justice Kotwal said the POCSO Act clearly says for words and expressions not defined under POCSO, they will have to be given the meaning as is under IPC.
Written by : KARAN SURI
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