Cut trial-time jail stay from total term

The Supreme Court yesterday ruled that the tenure of any convict serving jail time during trial proceedings will be deducted from the total imprisonment handed down in the case by the court concerned.

The Appellate Division of the SC also asked the authorities concerned to take necessary steps to this effect.

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A five-member full bench of the division, headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, passed the order while delivering a 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.

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

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.

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's serving in jail during trial will 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 be deducted from the sentence of imprisonment, the total period the accused may have been in custody in the meantime, in connection with that offence."

Younus's lawyer Golam Abbas told this correspondent that Natore's Additional District and Sessions Judge's court had sentenced Younus Ali to death in a double murder case and the High Court in 2005 commuted his death sentence to life imprisonment in the same case.

Younus then filed an appeal with the SC seeking bail and release from jail claiming that he has already been in jail for 26 years, he said, adding that Younus will be released following orders from the apex court.

The SC in a verdict in the Ataur Mridha versus Bangladesh case said life imprisonment means 30 years in jail and a convict awarded such a sentence should get remission of seven and 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 their 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 released on July 15.

Interpreting the observations, lawyer 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 bars for a total of 22 and a half years.