UPSC-Relevant News Items

1. Sessions Court Cannot Order Life Sentence Without Remission, Says SC

Page: 6

Summary:

• • The Supreme Court ruled that Sessions Courts lack the authority to impose a sentence of imprisonment for the rest of natural life without the possibility of remission or commutation.
• • This sentencing power is exclusively reserved for Constitutional Courts (Supreme Court and High Courts) because only they possess the constitutional mandate necessary to curtail the executive clemency powers vested under Articles 72 and 161, a jurisdiction statutory courts lack. Sessions Courts, being statutory courts established under the CrPC, lack this constitutional jurisdiction to modify the operation of Articles 72/161.
• • The ruling upholds the principle of alternative sentencing established in cases like *Swamy Shraddananda*, offering a middle ground for heinous crimes between death and standard life imprisonment.

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