Holding

The Supreme Court upheld the conviction and life imprisonment of Krishan Lal, Vishnu, Banwari and Prithvi, with a rider that Krishan Lal shall remain in prison for the remainder of his life, and dismissed all appeals.

Summary

The case arose from a long‑standing feud between the families of Bhagwan Ram and Krishan Lal. On the night of 21‑22 August 1992 the accused entered Bhagwan Ram's house and fired indiscriminately, killing Bhagwan Ram, his son Sunder Ram and his mother Chando Devi, and injuring Subhash Chander (PW2) and his sister Raj Kumari (PW3). The two eye‑witnesses positively identified four accused – Krishan Lal, Vishnu, Banwari and Prithvi – and the trial court convicted all accused, awarding death sentences. The Rajasthan High Court upheld the conviction of the four but commuted the death penalty to life imprisonment, acquitting the remaining accused. On appeal, the Supreme Court affirmed the convictions and the life sentences, held that the eye‑witness testimony was reliable, and declined to restore the death penalty, adding that Krishan Lal must remain in prison for the rest of his natural life without any remission. All appeals – by the victim, the State and the accused – were dismissed.

Issues considered

The reliability of the eye‑witness testimony of PW2 and PW3 in establishing the guilt of the four accused.
Whether the offences constitute a 'rarest of rare' case warranting the death penalty.
The correct interpretation of Section 57 of the Indian Penal Code with respect to the term of life imprisonment.
Whether the convicted persons, especially Krishan Lal, are eligible for remission or commutation under Section 401 CrPC.

Legislation cited

Arms Acts. 27
Code of Criminal Procedures. 401
Indian Penal Code, 1860s. 120-B, s. 148, s. 149, s. 302, s. 307, s. 450, s. 57

Subjects

murderdeath penaltyrarest of rare doctrinelife imprisonmentSection 57 IPCcommutationeye‑witness testimonycriminal appeal

Judgment

A SUBHASH CHANDER ETC. ETC.
v.
KRISHAN LAL AND ORS. ETC. ETC.

MARCH 29, 2001

B [K. T. THOMAS AND R.P. SETHI, JJ.]

Penal Code, 1860 : Sections 302, 307, 148, 450 read with Sections 149, ~-
120-B.

Murder-Accused persons-Appreciation of testimony of eye-witness-
c Deposition of eye-witnesses establishing involvement of accused persons-No
material infirmity in the deposition of eye-witnesses-Concurrent finding of
guilt of accused by Trial Court as well as High Court-Conviction of accused
upheld.

Murder-Sentence-Award of death sentence by Trial Court-Sentence
D
commuted into life imprisonment by High Court-Held, on facts discretion
exercised by High Court cannot be interfered with.

Death penalty-Commutation to life imprisonment-Validity of

S.57-Sentence-Life imprisonment-Unless life imprisonment commuted
E
as per law prisoner is bound to serve the life terms in prison.

The appellants along with other co-accused persons were prosecuted
und~r Sections 302, 307, 148, 450 read with Sections 149, 120-B and Section
307 read with Sections 149 and 120-B .of the Penal Code, 1S60. The prosecu-
F tion story was that the families of Band K, (A· l) had an old enmity. One of
the sons of B was murdered by A· l and some family members ofB had been
cited as eye-witnesses in that case. During the pendency of the trial Al, A6,
A7 and AS were released on bail. On the night of 21st August 1992 the
accused persons intruded into the house of B with a view to eliminating the
prosecution witnesses in the murder case and started indiscriminate firing
G on the sleeping family members of B. In this attack B, one of bis sons and bis
mother died. Two of the injured victims PWs 2 and 3 survived. The Trial
Court acquitted AS but convicted the other accused persons and awarded
them death sentence. The High Court convicted only four accused persons
viz. Al, A6, A7 and AS but commuted their death sentence to imprisonment
H oflife. Hence these appeals.
864
SUBHASH v. KRISHAN LAL 865
Disposing of the appeals, the Court A
HELD : 1. Both the trial court and the High Court have, upon
appreciation of evidence, concurrently found accused Al, A6, A7 and AS
guilty of the offences with which they were charged. Involvement of these
accused persons is fully established by the testimony of PW2 and PW3. No
material infirmity in the depositions of these two eye-witnesses bas been B
pointed out. Consequently, there is no doubt regarding the involvement of
the aforesaid accused P"rsons for the offences with which they were charged,
convicted and sentenced. [872-H; 873-D)

2. There is no denial of the fact that the accused convict-appellants,
who were earlier involved in the murder of a son of B left no stone
c
unturned to eliminate the whole family of said B including three eye-
witnesses in that case. The means adopted in execution of the evil designs
speak of the mental condition of the accused persons whom the trial Court
found to have been involved in the commission of a crime termed by it as
rarest of the rare cases. But the High Court, presumably on general con· D
spectus and upon consideration of facts of the case, found that accused
persons should not be awarded with death sentence. Consequently, for
interfering with the discretion of the Court, further exceptional grounds
are required to be made out. When two views are possible about the
quantum of sentence, a view which favours the grant of life in comparison E
to death is generally accepted. There are some reservations about the
sentence awarded vide the impugned judgment but in view of the exercise
• of discretion in commuting the death sentence the sentence awarded to the
accused persons calls for no interference. [874-B-E)

Nirmal Singh & ,for. v. State of Haryana, [1999) 2 Scale 133; State of F
U.P. v. Dharmendra Singh & Anr., [1999) 6 Scale 113; Ram Deo Chauhan @
Raj Nath Chauhan v. State of Assam, JT (2000) 8 SC 430 and Narayan
Chetanram Chaudhary & Anr. v. State of Maharashtra, JT (2000) 10 SC 78,
referred to.

3. Section 57 of the Indian Penal Code provides that in calculating
G
fractions of terms of punishment, imprisonment for life sbali be reckoned
as equivalent to imprisonment for 20 years. It does not say that the impris-
onment for life shall be deemed to be for 20 years. The position at law is
that unless the life imprisonment is commuted or remitted by appropriate
authority under the relevant provisions of law applicable in the case, a H
866 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2001] 2 S.C.R.
A prisoner sentenced to life imprisonment is bound in law to serve the life
term in prison. (875-B-C]

4. In the peculiar circumstances of the case, apprehending imminent
danger to the life of PW2 and his family in future, the imprisonment for
life for Al shall be imprisonment in prison for the rest of his life. He shall
B not be entitled to any commutation or premature release under Section
401 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, Prisoners Act, Jail Manual or any
other statute and the Rules made for the purposes of grant of commutation
and remissions. (876-G-H]

c Gopal Vinayak Godse v. The State of Maharashtra & Others, [1961] 3 '
SCR 440; Pandit Kishori Lal v. King Emperor, (1944) 1 72 LR I.A.; State of
Madhya Pradesh v. Ratan Singh & Ors., [1976] 3 SCC 470; Sohan Lal v. Asha
Ram & Others, [1981] l SCC 106; Hagirath v. Delhi Administration, [1985] 2
SCC 580 and Zahid Hussain & Ors. v. State of West Bengal & Anr., [2001] 3 -\'
sec 750, referred to.
D
5. There did not exist any evidence against A2 to AS. Their acquittal
is confirmed. The trial court had convicted and sentenced A9 to A12 on the
basis of the statements of PW2. Finding that his version of occurrence, in
so far as these accused persons are concerned, was not supported by PW3,
the High Court acquitted them. The conclusion arrived at by the High 1-
E
Court regarding the role played by A9 to A12 is correct and there is no
reason to interfere with the Judgment of acquittal passed in their favour
by giving them the benefit of doubt. [871-E; 872-F] •
CRIMINAL APPELLATE JURISDICTION : Criminal Appeal Nos.
F 812-814 of 1999.

From the Judgment and Order dated 13.11.98 of the Rajasthan High ....
Court in D.B.Crl.M.R. No. 1/97, D.B.Crl.J.A. No. 529/97, D.B.Crl.A. No. 552
and 574 of 1997.

G WITH

Criminal Appeal Nos. 815-16, 817-18, 819-20, 821-22, 980, 1017/99,
Criminal Appeal No. 298/2001. ...
Ranjit Kumar, U.R. Lalit, Ms. Apama Bha~ Sushi! Kr. Jain, A.P. Jain,
H Ms. Anjali Doshi, A. Mishra, Ms. Pratibha Jain, Ms. Sandhya Goswami,
SUBHASH v. KRISHAN LAL [SETHI, J.] 867
Doongar Singh, V.J. Francis, P.l. Jose, Jenis Francis, A. Radhakrishnan, K.K. A
Mohan, Javed Mohmud Rao, A.V. Palli, Rekha Palli and Atul Shanna for the
appearing parties.

The Judgment of the Court was delivered by

SETHI, J. Legends reveal and the people believe that in the ancient B
Indian society Bhagwan Krishna took birth to reprieve the suffering humanity
from the terror let loose by the demon named Kansa. The birth of Lord
Krishna, Janmasthami, is celebrated every year to commemorate the birth of
truth for elimination of repression and atrocities. Ironically, thousands of
years thereafter, on the day of Janmasthami in the year 1992, the accused,
unfortunately named Krishan, along with others, became a devil and like
c
vultures pounced upon tne family of Bhagwan Ram, the deceased. After
committing a ghastly crime, the accused persons left the scene of occurrence,
satisfied with their design of killing the whole of the family. To their
misfortune, two of the injured survived who appeared against the accused as
PWs 2 and 3. The deceased included Bhagwan Ram, his son Sunder Ram, D
and Chando Devi, his mother. Spree of killing was resorted to, for eliminating
the prosecution witnesses against some of the accused persons who earlier,
on 25th June, 1987, had committed the crime of murder of Om Prakash,
another son of Bhagwan Ram.
E
Apparently with the police connivance, the charge-sheet wa; filed
against accused Krishan Lal and four others, namely, Bikar Singh, Mangu
Singh, Major Singh and Om Prakash, the later four being not even named
in the FIR or in the statements of PWs 2, and 3, recorded under Section 161
of the Criminal Procedure Code. It was only on the judicial intervention that
ultimately charge-sheet was filed against 12 persons including the convicted F
appellants. The trial court concluded that offences under Sections 302, 307,
148, 450 read with Sections 149, 120B and Section 307 read with Sections
149 and 120B !PC had been proved against the accused persons, namely,
Krishan Lal(Al), Mangu Singh(A2), Bikar Singh(A3), Major Singh(A4),
V1shnu(A6), Banwari(A7), Prithvi(A8), Brij Jal(A9), Dhokal(AIO), G
Bhagirath(All) and Het Ram(Al2). One of the accused persons, namely, Ori
Prakash(A5) was, however, acquitted. Upon conviction, the trial court awarded
death sentence to all the accused persons who were convicted under Section
302 read with Sections 149 and 120B of the Indian Penal Code and fme of
Rs.25,000 each. All the convicted persons were also sentenced to life H
868 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2001] 2 S.C.R.
A imprisonment and fine of Rs.2000 each for the commission of the offence
under Section 307 read with Sections 149 and 120B IPC, seven years rigorous
imprisonment with a fine of Rs.2000 each for the offences punishable under

B
Section 450 of the IPC. They were further sentenced to three years rigorous
imprisonment and a fine of Rs.2000 each for the offence punishable under
Section 148 and 6 month rigo_rons imprisonment and a fine of Rs.1000
-
each for the offence under Section 27 of the Indian Arms Act. It was fnrther
' the full amount be paid as compensation
directed that after recovery of fine,
to injured Subash Chander (PW2). Reference was made to the High
Court for confirmation of the capital sentence awarded to the accused persons.
Feeling aggrieved all the convicted persons filed appeals in the High
c Court. The State did not file any appeal against the acquittal of Om Prakash,
accused.

All the four appeals filed by the convicted persons and the reference
arising out of the judgment of the trial court were disposed of by a common
judgment now impugned in these appeals. The High Court upheld the
D conviction of convicts, namely, Krishan Lal( Al), Vishnu(A6), Banwari(A7)
and Prithvi(A8) but commuted the death sentence to the imprisonment for
life. Their appeals against the sentences in relation to other offences were
rejected.

E
Not satisfied with the judgment of the High Court, Subash Chander,
(PW2) has filed two sets of appeals bearing Nos.812-814 of 1999 and 815- f-
-
816 of 1999 praying for setting aside the order of acquittal and awarding of
death sentence to the convicted persons as was done by the trial court. The
four convicted accused have filed two sets of appeals bearing Criminal
Appeal Nos.817-818 of 1999 and 819-820 of 1999 praying for their acquittal
F by setting aside the conviction and sentence awarded to them by the trial court
and the High Court. Criminal Appeal Nos.821-822 of 1999, 1017 of 1999,
980 of 1999 and 290 of 2001 have been filed by the State of Rajasthan
seeking quashing of the order of acquittal and for award of death sentence
to the convicted persons. It may be noticed, at this stage, that Subhash
G Chander in his appeals has not challenged the acquittal of the accused
persons, namely, Bikar Singh(A2), Mangu Singh(A3), Major Singh(A4) and
Om Prakash(A5). The State of Rajasthan has, however, prayed for setting
aside the order of acquittal relating to Bikar Singh, Mangu Singh and Major ~
s;ngh, as well. ~

H . We have heard the learned counsel for the parties appearing in the case
SUBHASH v. KRISHAN LAL [SETHI, J.] 869
at length and propose to dispose of all these appeals by this common A
jndgment.

The facts of the case, as unfolded during the trial, are that the families
of Bhagwan Ram, deceased and Krishan Lal, accused ("Al") had an old
enmity. Om Prakash, son of Bhagwan Ram was murdered on 25th June, 1987
by Al along with Vishnu (A6), Banwari (A7), Prithvi (A8) and one Gopi
B
Ram. Bhagwan Ram, his sons Sunder Ram and Subhash Chander (PW2) had
been cited as eye-witnesses in that case. During the pendency of the trial Al,
A6, A7 and A8 had been released on bail. A6 is the brother and A7 and A8
are uncles of Al.
c
On the intervening night of 21/22nd August, 1992, Subhash Chander
(PW2), his father Bhagwan Ram, his brother Sunder Ram, his grand-mother
Chanda Devi, his sister Raj Kumari and his maternal uncle Chandu Ram were
sleeping in the courtyard of the house when at about 1 O' Clock in the night
the aforesaid four accused along with Brij Lal (A9), Dhokal (A!O), Bhagirath
(All) and Het Ram (Al2) intruded into the house and started indiscriminate
D
firing on the sleeping family members of Bhagwan Ram. On hearing the gun
shots, Subhash Chander(PW2) woke up and he saw in his house AI, A6, A7,
A8, A9, AlO, All and A12. Krishan Lal Al exhorted others to spare no
family member of Bhagwan Ram, deceased. He fired gun shots from his pistol
which hit the bone of the right side hip and abdomen of Subhash Chander. E
When he (PW2) ran from the place of occurrence to save his life, another
shot was fired at him. His father, brother, grand-mother and sister also
suffered gun shot injuries. During the spree of gun shots, the accused persons
were calling each other by their names. When the accused were standing in
the courtyard of the house of the deceased persons, PW2 had came out of F
his room with torch and flashed it on them which confirmed the identification
of the accused. When everybody belonging to the family of Bhagwan Ram
fell after.receiving gun-shot injuries, Al declared that the work is over,
whereafter the accused persons left the place. PW2 came out of the room and
saw that due to sustaining of various injuries, the condition of his grand-
mother was serious, whereas his father and brother had died. After the G
accused fled away, PW2 along with his sister Raj Kumari (PW3) went to the
house of Mani Ram who is his father-in-law and narrated him the whole story.
Mani Ram and his son took PW2 and his sister(PW3), in their jeep and got
them admitted in the hospital. On the basis of the statement of PW2 FIR
No.279/92 was registered at Police Station Pili Banga and investigation H
870 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2001] 2 S.C.R.
A commenced.

During the investigation PW s2 and 3 were got medically examined.
"·
Empty cartridges of copper, empty shells of 12 bore dot-gatte, rubber, live
cartridges, pellets, lathi, gandasi, blood smeared earth and plain earth were
recovered and sealed by the investigating agency. Inquest report and
B Panchayatnama of the dead bodies of Bhagwan Ram, Chando Devi and
Sunder Ram were prepared. Post mortem was got conducted on the dead )..
bodies. Blood stained clothes of Subhash Chander (PW2) and Raj Kumari
(PW3) were also seized.

c On 7.2.1992 Al voluntarily appeared in the police station and was
arrested. He produced a pistol and two cartridges of 3 lS bore which were
taken into police custody as evidence. Al, A2 and A3 were arrested on
11.9.1992. AS was arrested on 22.9.1992. On completion of investigation a
challan was produced against Krishan Lal (Al), Bikar Singh (A2), Mangu
Singh (A3), Major Singh (A4) and Om Prakash (AS). The investigating
D
agency found the other 7 accused persons not involved in the case which
included A6, A7 and A8. Even though the accused, apparently with the
connivance of the police, attempted to mislead the court by filing a case
against A2 to AS, yet their attempt was foiled by the court, who after hearing
the arguments on protest petition filed by Subhash Chander (PW2) took
E cognizance against all the remaining 7 suspect persons and summoned them
as accused in the case. After committal, the accused persons were charged
for the various offences under the Indian Penal Code and the Indian Arms
Act. The accused persons denied the charges and claimed trial. To prove its
..
case, the prosecution examined 12 witnesses and relied upon various docu-
F ments exhibited as Exhibit P-1 to Exhibit P-80.

In his statement recorded under Section 313 of the Cr.P.C., Het Ram
(Al2) submitted that he was innocent and that he along with Om Prakash,
Sheshkaran and Kashi Ram had gone to Sardarpura at 8.00 a.m. on the day ~

of occurrence and returned home at 12.30 in the night after leaving Kashi
G Ram in his village. Bhagirath (All), Dhokal (AID) and Brij Lal (A9) pleaded
alibi. Banwari Lal (A7) stated that on the fateful night he was in the Dhani
of Lado Ram at Chak 6 LKS as Lado Ram had died. Vishnu (A6) submitted
that on the day of Janmasthami he had gone to Ganganagar and for the night ....
he stayed there in the house of Krishan son of Bhola Ram. Other accused
H persons pleaded innocence and took a plea of total denial. In their defence,
SUBHASH v. KRISHAN LAL [SETHI, J.] 871
the accused persons produced 10 defence witnesses and relied upon docu- A
>-- ments marked Exhibit D-1 to D-7.

The trial court convicted all the accused persons and sentenced them
to death whereas the High Court convicted only four appellants vide the
judgment impugned in these appeals, as noticed earlier.
B
After going through the statements of witnesses and the record pro-
duced in the case we have come to the conclusion that there did not exist
any evidence against A2 to AS of whom AS was rightly acquitted by the trial
court and A2 to A4 by the High Court. We have noticed with pain that the
aforesaid four accused persons were impleaded not only to mislead the court
but also to provide protection to the real culprits being sure that ultimately
c
no court could convict and sentence any of the aforesaid four accused
persons. Mr.Ranjit Kumar, learned Senior Counsel appearing on behalf
of Subhash Chander, appellant has been fair to concede that there is
no evidence against the aforesaid accused persons warranting their conviction
and sentence. We, therefore, confirm the acquittal of the aforesaid accused D
persons and dismiss the appeals filed by the State against the acquittal of A2
to A4.

Out of the Accused Nos. 9 to 12, Dhokal (AIO) is stated to have died
during the pendency of these appeals. The trial court had convicted and
sentenced A9 to Al2 on the basis of the statements of PW2 Subhash Chander. E
Finding that his version of occurrence, in so far as those accused persons are
concerned, was not supported by Raj Kumari (PW3), High Court acquitted
• them. It is true that the names of A9 to Al2 are mentioned in the FIR lodged
by PW2 and reiterated by him in his deposition in the trial court but Raj
Kumari (PW3) categorically stated that after receiving the gun shot injuries F
she, along with Subhash Chander (PW2) had hidden themselves in the room
and when Subhash Chander came out of the room with torch, gun shots were
again fired at him which forced him to return back. At that time "Krishan,
Vishnu, Banwari, and Prithvi were calling each other by their names and said
that work is over, let us go. The fact of going was said by Krishan". At the
trial, the court observed that "while identifying correctly to the accused
G
persons namely Krishan, Banwari, Vishnu and Prithvi the witness stated that
these are the 4 accused persons who fired gun shots". PW3 has been categoric
in stating that only four accused, namely, Al, A6, A7 and AS were the
~
persons who had come on the spot and fired gun shots. She has neither named
any other person nor identified the rest of the accused persons in the court. H
872 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2001] 2 S.C.R.
A She has not even stated that the aforesaid font accused persons were
accompanied by any other person also. By referring to the statements of PWs2 ~
and 3 the Division Bench of the High Conti observed: ,

"A critical examination of the testimony of two eye- witnesses PW2
Subhash Chandra and PW3 Raj Kumari shows that as regards the font
B accnsed persons, namely, Krishan, Vishnu, Banwari and Prithvi, there
is no variance in the testimony of these two eye-witnesses. The
testimony of PW3 Raj kumari has not been shaken in the cross-
examination and, therefore, on the basis of the testimony of Raj
Kumari corroborated by PW2 Subhash Chandra these 4 accused
c persons can be held to be present at the scene of occurrence and it
can be safely held thaf they have used gun shots as alleged by this
witness and as corroborated by PW2 Subhash Chandra. In relation to
the other font accused persons, namely, Dhokal, Brij Lal, Het Ram
and Bhagirath a doubt is created as to whether they were in fact
present or not because had they been present Raj Kun1ari would have
D definitely named them. May be that they were present and Raj Kumari
had missed their presence but if an injnted witness misses to name
the four accused persons then such absence goes in favont of the
accused persons and, therefore, notwithstanding the testimony of
PW2 Subhash Chandra the presence of these font accused persons is
E held to be doubtful. May be that they were not present on the scene
of occntrence at the time of the incident. In this background of doubt,
it can be said that the presence of the font accused Krishan, Vishnu
Banwari and Prithvi is held proved. Presence of font accused Dhokal,
Brij Lal, Het Ram and Bhagirath is held doubtful."
•
F We also agree with the conclusions arrived at by the High Conti
regarding the role played by A9 to Al2 and find no reason to interfere with
the judgment of acquittal passed in their favont by giving them the benefit
of doubt. The appeals filed by Subhash Chander and the State in so far as
A9 to Al2 are concerned, are dismissed.
G Both the trial court as well as the High Conti have, upon appreciation
of evidence, concurrently found accused Krishan. Lal (Al), Vishnu (A6),
Bhanwari (A7), Prithvi (A8) guilty of the offences with which they were
charged. Involvement of the aforesaid accused persons is fully established by
the testimony of Subhash Chander (PW2) and Raj Kumari (PW3). Subhash
H Chander (PW2) has stated that on the day of occntrence he, along with other
SUBHASH v. KRISHAN LAL [SETHI, J.] 873
members of the family, was sleeping in the courtyard of his house. On hearing A
the sounds of gun-shot firing, he woke up along with others and saw Al, A6,
A7 and A8 along with others firing with their weapons. AI fired pistol shots
which hit the witness. AI exhorted others that nobody from the family of
Bhagwan Ram should escape. When the witness tried to escape by running
towards his room, he was again fired at. Raj Kumari (PW3) also sustained
B
bullet injuries. He saw the accused persons in the torch light and also
recognised them as they were calling each other by their names. In conse-
quence of the gun shot injuries Bhagwan Ram, Sunder Ram and Chando Devi
died. The crime is stated to have been committed on account of the enmity,
with the object to eliminate the prosecution witnesses cited against the
accused in the murder case pertaining to the death of the brother of the c
witness, namely, Om Prakash. To the same effect is the statement of Raj
Kumari. The High Court has accepted the testimony of both the witnesses
so far as Al, A6, A7 and A8 are concerned. Learned Senior Counsel
appearing for the aforesaid accused persons could not point out any material
infirmity in the depositions of the aforesaid witnesses w)lich could persuade D
us to take a different view. Upon analysis of the evidence and the other
relevant record produced in the case, we have no doubt in our mind regarding
the involvement of the aforesaid accused persons for the offences with which
they were charged, convicted and sentenced.

Mr. Ranjit Kumar, Senior Counsel who appeared for Subhash Chander, E
(PW2) vehemently argued that the trial court was not justified in commuting
the death sentence and awarding the life imprisonment to the aforesaid
accused persons. He has submitted that the present case was one which could
be termed as rarest of the rare case warranting the extreme penalty imposable
upon them under law. It is contended that mere fact that some of the accused F
persons were acquitted could not be made a ground for converting the death
sentence into the life imprisonment. The manner in which the crime was
committed on the helpless sleeping members of a family and design of the
accused to eliminate the whole family justified the grant of death sentence.
The reason given by the High Court for not awarding the death sentence being
vague and irrelevant, the judgment impugned to that extent is sought to be G
modified. In support of his contention the learned senior counsel has relied
upon the judgments of this Court in Ninnal Singh & Anr. v. State of Haryana,
[1999] 2 Scale 133, State of U.P. v. Dharmendra Singh & Anr., [1999] 6 Scale
113, Ram Deo Chauhan @ Raj Nath Chauhan v. State of Assam, IT (2000)
8 SC 430 and Narayan Chetanram Chaudhary & Anr. v. State of Maharashtra, H
874 SUPREME COURT REPORTS [2001] 2 S.C.R.
A IT (2000) 10 SC 78.

There is no denial of the fact that the accused convict-appellants, who
·-<.
.-
were earlier involved in the murder of Om Prakash, son of Bhagwan Ram
left no stone unturned to eliminate the whole family of said Bhagwan Ram
including three eye-witnesses in that case, namely Bhagwan Ram, Sunder
B Ram and Subhash Chander. It is also established that the aforesaid accused
persons attacked the deceased and the injured at the dead hour of the night
when they were sleeping being incapable of defending themselves. The means
adopted in execution of the evil designs speak of the mental condition of the
accused persons whom the trial court found to have been involved in the
c commission of a crime termed by it as rarest of the rare cases. The High
Court, while commuting the death sentences, appears to have completely
ignored various pronouncements of this Court dealing with the yardsticks to
be adopted while awarding the death sentence. Merely because 8 persons,
convicted by the trial court, were acquitted, by itself cannot be termed to be
a justified ground for commuting the death sentence. However, as the High
D Court, presumably on general conspectus and upon consideration of facts of
the case, found that accused persons should not be awarded with death
sentence, we feel that for interfering with the discretion of the court, further
exceptional grounds are required to be made out. When two views are
possible about the quantum of sentence, a view which favours the grant of
E life in comparison of death is generally accepted. But for the exercise of the
f
powers by the High Court in commuting the death sentence we had some
reservations about the sentence awarded vide the impugned judgment but in
view of the exercise of discretion in commuting the death sentence we are
not inclined to interfere with the sentence awarded to the accused persons
specially Vishnu (A6), Banwari (A7), Prithvi (AS).
F
Mr. Ranjit, Senior Counsel alternatively contended that if a desperate
accused like Krishan Lal (Al) is not awarded death sentence, he is likely to
eliminate the remaining family members of Bhagwan Ram, as is evident from
his past conduct and behaviour. It is submitted 'that to protect the lives of
G innocent surviving family members of Bhagwan Ram, it is necessary to atleast
deprive Krishan Lal (Al) of his life. We feel that the apprehensions expressed
by the senior counsel are not without substance.

Faced with the situation Mr.U.R. Lalit, Senior Counsel appearing for
the aforesaid respondents submitted that instead of depriving Krishan Lal
H (Al) of his life, the Court can pass appropriate orders to deprive the aforesaid
SUBHASH v. KRISHAN LAL [SETHI, J.] 875
accused person of his liberty throughout his life. Upon instructions, the A
>- learned Senior Counsel submitted that the said Krishan Lal, if sentenced to
life imprisonment, would never claim his pre-mature release or commutation
of his sentence on any ground. We record such a submission made on behalf
of the said accused, upon instructions.

Section 57 of the Indian Penal Code provides that in calculating
B
fractions of terms of punishment of imprisonment for life shall be reckoned
as equivalent to imprisonment for 20 years. It does not say that the trans-
portation for life shall be deemed to be for 20 years. The position at law is
that unless the life imprisonment is commuted or remitted by appropriate
authority under the relevant provisions of law applicable in the case, a c
prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment is bound in law to serve the life term
in prison. In Gopal Vinayak Godse v. The State of Maharashtra & Others
[1961] 3 SCR 440, the convict petitioner contended that as the term of
imprisonment actually served by him exceeded 20 years, his further detention
in jail was illegal and prayed for being set at liberty. Repelling such a
D
contention and referring to the judgment of the Privy Council in Pandit
Kishori Lal v. King Emperor, [1944] 1 72 LR I.A. this Court held:

"If so, the next question is whether there is any provision of law
whereunder a sentence for life imprisonment, without any formal
remission by appropriate Government, can be automatically treated as E
one for a definite period. No such provision is found in the Indian
Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure or the Prisons Act. Though
the Government of India stated before the Judicial Committee in the
case cited supra that, having regard to s.57 of the Indian Penal Code,
20 year's imprisonment was equivalent to a sentence of transportation F
for life, the Judicial Committee did not express its final opinion on
that question. The Judicial Committee observed in that case thus at
p.10:

"Assuming that the sentence is to be regarded as one of twenty
years, and subject to remission for good conduct, he had not earned G
remission sufficient to entitle him to discharge at the time of his
application, and it was therefore rightly dismissed, but in saying this,
their Lordships are not to be taken as meaning that a life sentence
must and _in all cases be treated as one of not more than twenty years,
or that the convict is necessarily entitled to remission." H
876 SUPREME COURT REPORTS (200 l] 2 S.C.R.
A Section 57 of the Indian Penal Code has no real bearing on th~
questiou raised before us. For calculating fractions of terms of ~
punishment the section provides that transportation for life shall be
regarded as equivalent to imprisomnent for twenty years. It does not
say that transportation for life shall be deemed to be transportation
for twenty years for all purposes; nor does the amended section which
B
substitutes the words "imprisomnent for life" for "transportation for
life" enable the drawing of any such all-embracing fiction. A sentence
of transportation for life or imprisomnent for life must prima facie be
treated as transportation or imprisomnent for the whole of the
remaining period of the convicted person's natural life."
c In State of Madhya Pradesh v. Ratan Singh & Ors., (1976] 3 SCC 470,
this Court held that a sentence of imprisomnent for life does not automatically
expire at the end of the 20 years, including the remissions. "The sentence for
imprisomnent for life means a sentence for the entire life of the prisoner ~
unless the appropriate Government choses to exercise its discretion to remit
D either the whole or a part of the sentence under Section 401 of the Code of
Criminal Procedure", observed the court. To the same effect are the judgments
in Sohan Lal v. Asha Ram & Others, (1981] 1 SCC 106, Hagirath v. Delhi
Administration, (1985] 2 SCC 580 and the latest judgment in Znhid Hussein
& Ors. v. State of West Bengal & Anr., [Writ Petition (Cr!.) Nos.274-277 of
E 2000 decided on 15.3.2001]. /.-

Agreeing with the plea raised by the senior counsel of the convict-
respondents and in view of the circumstances of the case particularly award-
ing of lesser punishment by the High Court, we are not inclined to
award death sentence to any of the accused persons. While dismissing their
F appeals we confirm the conviction and sentence awarded to the aforesaid
accused persons, namely, Krishan Lal (Al), Vislum (A6), Banwari (A7),
Prithvi (AS). .Ali

However, m the peculiar circumstances of the case, apprehending
irmninent danger to the life of Subhash Chander and his family in future,
G taicing on record the statement made on behalf of Krishan Lal (Al), we are
inclined to hold that for him the imprisomnent for life shall be the impris-
omnent in prison for the rest of his life. He shall not be entitled to any
cormnutation or premature release under Section 401 of the Code of Criminal :.._
Procedure, Prisoners Act, Jail Manual or any other statute and the Rules made
H for the purposes of grant of cormnutatiou and remissions.
SUBHASH v. KRISHAN LAL [SETHI, J.] 877

... In view of what has been stated hereinabove, the conviction and
sentences awarded by the High Court to Krishan Lal (Al), Vishnu (A6),
A

Banwari (A7), Prithvi (A8) are upheld with the rider that Krishan Lal (Al),
for the rest of his life, shall remain in prison.

All the appeals filed by Subhash Chander, accused persons and the
State are dismissed with a rider that Krishan Lal (Al) shall remain in prison B
for the rest of his life.

T.N.A. Appeals disposed of.

-\