B.B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 4 Criminal Law I 2012 Jan Question Paper with Solutions

For full marks, cover: section 53 of the Indian Penal Code (now section 4 of the Sanhita) and how its list changed in 1949 and 1955; a ladder of the five punishments; each punishment with the sections that govern it: death and its commutation (Bachan Singh, Mithu), imprisonment for life (Gopal Vinayak Godse) and the twenty-year rule for fractions, imprisonment rigorous or simple with solitary confinement as an add-on (Sunil Batra), forfeiture after the 1921 repeal, and fine with imprisonment in default, worked through with figures; three rules that limit or raise a sentence (sections 71, 72 and 75); measures outside the Code; the Sanhita and what it changed; a conclusion.

Section 53 and its history

Section 53 lists "the punishments to which offenders are liable under the provisions of this Code". A court may pass only a punishment on this list. It may pass only the kind and amount that the section creating the offence allows.

The list has changed twice.

First: death

Death is reserved for a small group of the gravest offences. Murder under section 302 and dacoity with murder under section 396 are examples. In each, death is an alternative, never the only choice.

The rule of choice. In Bachan Singh v. State of Punjab, AIR 1980 SC 898, decided on 9 May 1980, the Constitution Bench upheld the death penalty for murder. It added that life imprisonment is the rule and death the exception. Death may be passed only in the rarest of rare cases, when the alternative is "unquestionably foreclosed".

Held. The Constitution Bench refused him release. Under section 53A, his sentence was to be treated as rigorous imprisonment for life. He was bound to serve the rest of his life in prison, unless the sentence was commuted or remitted by the Government.

The twenty-year rule, correctly read. Section 57 says that, "in calculating fractions of terms of punishment", life imprisonment counts as twenty years. This is only a tool for arithmetic. For example, an attempt may carry up to half of the longest term for the offence. Section 57 does not turn a life sentence into twenty years.

Commutation. Section 55 lets the appropriate Government commute a life sentence. The substitute must be imprisonment of either description for not more than fourteen years. Again, the offender's consent is not needed.

Fourthly: imprisonment, rigorous or simple

The Code knows two kinds of imprisonment. Rigorous imprisonment is "with hard labour". Simple imprisonment has no labour.

1. Simple only. Some offences allow only simple imprisonment. Defamation under section 500 carries simple imprisonment up to two years, or fine, or both.

Facts. In Sunil Batra v. Delhi Administration, AIR 1978 SC 1675, decided on 30 August 1978, a prisoner awaiting execution had been kept alone in a cell by the jail. He challenged this under Articles 14, 19 and 21.

Held. The Prisons Act gave the jail no power to impose solitary confinement on a prisoner under sentence of death. Conviction alone does not strip a prisoner of his fundamental rights. The lesson is that solitude in prison must come from a court's sentence under sections 73 and 74.

Fifthly: forfeiture of property

Forfeiture once had a wide general form. Sections 61 and 62 dealt with it as a general sentence, including for offenders punishable with death, transportation or imprisonment. Both were repealed by Act 16 of 1921.

What remains is forfeiture tied to particular offences.

1. Depredation on a friendly Power (section 126). The offender forfeits property used or intended for it, or acquired by it.

A worked example. Suppose an offence carries up to two years and fine, and the court fines A one thousand rupees. Since two years is twenty-four months, the default term can be at most six months.

Ending the default term. It ends when the fine is paid or levied (section 68). Paying part shortens it in proportion (section 69). The fine may be levied within six years, or longer if the prison term is longer. The offender's death does not free property that would be liable for his debts (section 70).

Three rules that limit or raise a sentence

1. One act, one punishment (section 71). Where an offence is made up of parts that are themselves offences, the offender is punished for only one. In its illustration, A gives Z fifty strokes with a stick. A is liable to only one punishment for the whole beating.

Under the Sanhita

Section 4 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 lists six punishments. The first five are the Code's, and the sixth, community service, is new. A first-time thief of property worth less than five thousand rupees who returns it gets community service (section 303(2), proviso). Section 5 merges the old sections 54, 55 and 55A. Section 6 keeps the twenty-year rule "unless otherwise provided". Section 8 gathers the fine rules and raises the default scale for fine-only offences. It is now two months up to five thousand rupees, four months up to ten thousand, and one year otherwise. Sections 9 to 13 correspond to sections 71 to 75.

Conclusion. Section 53 of the Code, now section 4 of the Sanhita, allows five punishments, after penal servitude went in 1949 and transportation in 1955. Death is the exception for the rarest of rare cases (Bachan Singh) and can never be compulsory (Mithu). Imprisonment for life lasts for life (Gopal Vinayak Godse). Imprisonment is rigorous or simple, and solitary confinement is only an add-on ordered by a court (Sunil Batra). Forfeiture survives for a few offences, and fine carries limited imprisonment in default. The Sanhita adds community service as a sixth punishment.