KINDS OF PUNISHMENTS – UNDER IPC (INDIAN PENAL CODE, 1860)

This Article is written by Shivani Shethi.

KINDS OF PUNISHMENTS– SEC 53-75, INDIAN PENAL CODE,1860

The main objective of law is to maintain law and order in society and to achieve this goal punishment plays an important role by punishing the wrongdoers and by following the principles of the Indian Criminal justice administration system which is based on certain fundamental maxims and beliefs i.e. a person to be considered innocent until proven guilty but that doesn’t mean that once the alleged person is proven guilty will be directly executed or put behind bars for a lifetime, there are various kinds and theories of punishment.

The various theories of punishment such as Deterrent theory, retributive theory, preventive theory, reformative theory, etc. India follows the reformative theory for providing punishment to wrongdoers in such a way that it should not be too grave nor so simple, that it fails to serve its purpose in generating impact on the offender as the nature of such punishment should be that, it must bring reform in a person’s personality and ideology.

KINDS OF PUNISHMENT UNDER INDIAN PENAL CODE,1860^[1](SEC 53-75)

• Section 53 provides 5 kinds of punishments:

1. 1. Death;
   2. Imprisonment for life;
      • Rigorous, that is, with hard labour;
      • Simple;
   3. [Omitted by Act 17 of 1949]
   4. Forfeiture of property;
   5. Fine.

Death Sentence

In this punishment, a person is hanged till death. In earlier times this was a very common punishment but in modern times it is given in rarest of the rare cases in India supported by the judgement of the case Bachan Singh vs State Of Punjab ^[2],in which Supreme Court upheld the validity of capital punishment.

Although the validity of death penalty was questioned in Jagmohan Singh vs The State Of U. P^[3] ,but Apex court upheld the validity by stating that deprivation of life is lawful if done by abiding the procedure of law.

Below mentioned are some offences, where death penalty is provided under IPC,1860;

• sec 115 (Abatement for an offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life)
• Sec 121 (waging, attempting or abetting war against the government of India)
• Sec 132(Uprising, supporting and encouraging the formation of the mutinous group of people in the nations armed forces)
• Sec 302(punishment for murder)
• Sec 376(punishment for rape)

Life imprisonment

Generally, imprisonment for life means depriving the convict of liberty and keeping him behind the bars for the rest of his life unless the competent authority remits it. According to Sec 57 of the Code, 20 years of imprisonment is considered life imprisonment. However, if only parts are considered, a life sentence is considered to be 20 years in prison, otherwise the life sentence is indefinite.

In the case Swamy Shardanannda alias Murali Manohar Mishra Vs. State of Karnataka^[4], the Supreme Court made it clear that the person convicted and awarded life imprisonment means imprisonment upto his last breath .

In the case of Naib Singh vs State Of Punjab^[5], The duration of life imprisonment and sec 55of IPC was clarified by the Supreme Court of India. The court ruled that a convict serving life imprisonment cannot seek release after completing 14 years, as life imprisonment lasts until the death of the prisoner. The only way the sentence can be reduced is through remission.

• Rigorous or simple imprisonment

In rigorous imprisonment, the convicts are obliged to do hard labor such as digging, making furniture, cutting wood, etc. and such work should not be of harsh nature rather providing it a humane meaning by remunerating convicts of their hardwork to strengthen their dignity as said by the hon’ble Apex court in the case of State Of Gujarat And Anr vs Hon’Ble High Court Of Gujarat^[6].

• Simple

While simple imprisonment is imposed for small offences that are not grave such as wrongful restraint or defamation. In such kind of punishment, the accused is put behind the bars and no work is imposed on him.

Forfeiture of property

Under this kind of punishment, the property of the accused is taken away by the state and such property can be movable or immovable. This punishment is imposed on offences mentioned in Sec 126,127 and 169 of IPC,1860

Fine

A fine constitutes the forfeiture of money as a penalty. Instead of imprisonment, fines are imposed for specific offenses, serving as an alternative penalty. The Indian Penal Code contains sections 137, 155, 171-177, 278, 283, and 157, listing offenses where the only punishment available is a fine.

The fine amount should be applied with fairness and should not be excessively harsh as laid down by the court in Shanti Lal vs State Of M.P^[7]

• Sec 53A Construction of reference to transportation.

The original punishment “transportation for life” was replaced by imprisonment for life by the Code of Procedure Amendment Act of 1955, and a new section, 53-A, was added.. This section redefines “transportation for life” to relate to confinement for life as Transportation was despised and is of no relevance now.

• Sec 54 Commutation of sentence of death.

Here, commutation means to change, to remit, or to replace.

In every situation in which a death sentence has been imposed, the appropriate government may, without the offender’s consent, commute(adjust) the punishment for any other, if allowed by this Code.

• Sec 55 Commutation of sentence of imprisonment for life.

Every case where a sentence of imprisonment for life shall have been passed, the appropriate Government may, without the offender’s consent, commute the punishment for imprisonment of either description for a term not exceeding fourteen years.

• Sec 55A Defines “appropriate Government”.

Here, if the conviction is as per law enacted by the centre then the appropriate Govt. will be Central Government and vice versa in the case of State Govt.

• Sec 56 Stands Repealed
• Sec 57 Fractions of terms of punishment.

According to this provision,20 years of imprisonment is considered life imprisonment. However, if only parts are considered, a life sentence is to be considered 20 years in prison, otherwise, the life sentence is indefinite.

• Sec 58 Repealed
• Sec 59 Repealed
• Sec 60 Sentence may be (in certain cases of imprisonment) wholly or partly rigorous or simple.

Some crimes are punishable by both rigorous and simple imprisonment under the Indian penal code. Only a trial court has the authority to choose the type of punishment for the convict. Some sentences can be completely or partially of a rigorous or simple nature

• Sec 61Repealed
• Sec 62 Repealed
• Sec 63 Amount of fine

If no amount is expressed for fine, then the amount to be paid by the accused stands unlimited but it should not be unnecessarily excessive as stated above in the case of Shanti Lal Vs. State of M.P.

• Sec 64 Sentence of imprisonment for non-payment of fine.

In every case of an offence punishable with imprisonment as well as fine, in which the offender is sentenced to a fine, whether with or without imprisonment.

If the offender fails to pay the fine or he defaults in the payment of fine, the offender shall suffer imprisonment for a certain term, which imprisonment shall be in excess of any other imprisonment to which he may have been sentenced or to which he may be liable under a commutation of a sentence.

• Sec 65 Limit to imprisonment for non-payment of fine, when imprisonment and fine awardable

Cases where imprisonment and fine both are awardable according to the offence committed and the offender defaults in payment of fine so the maximum imprisonment rewarded by the competent shall not exceed 1/4^th of the maximum punishment of imprisonment fixed for that offence

• Sec 66 Description of imprisonment for non-payment of fine.

The imprisonment which the Court imposes in default of payment of a fine may be of any description either be rigorous or simple. to which the offender might have been sentenced for the offence.

• Sec 67 Imprisonment for non-payment of fine, when offence punishable with fine only

If the offence can be punished with a fine only, the imprisonment imposed by the Court for failure to pay the fine shall be simple. The duration of the imprisonment, in case of non-payment of the fine, shall be limited as follows:

1. up to two months when the fine amount is less than fifty rupees,
2. up to four months when the fine amount is less than one hundred rupees,
3. and up to six months in any other case.

• Sec 68 Imprisonment to terminate on payment of fine

Whenever a fine is paid, the imprisonment for default in payment of fine will end.

• Sec 69 Termination of imprisonment on payment of a proportional part of fine.

If a portion of the fine is paid or collected before the end of the imprisonment term imposed for non-payment, and this payment results in the remaining unpaid fine being proportional to the remaining term of imprisonment, the imprisonment will be terminated.

• Sec 70 Fine leviable within six years, of imprisonment. Death not to discharge property from liability.
• Sec 71 Limit of punishment of offence made up of several offences.

If an offence consists of multiple parts, each of which is itself an offence, the offender cannot be punished for more than one of these offences, unless specifically stated.

• Sec 72 Punishment of person guilty of one of several offences, the judgment stating that is doubtful of which.
• Sec 73 Solitary Confinement and Sec 74 Limit of solitary confinement.

Both of the above section deals with solitary confinement i.e. a form of punishment where the convict is kept in isolation in a separate cell from the outside world to correct their conduct and it is awarded in offences of exceptional cases. It should not exceed three months.

In the case of Sunil Batra vs Delhi Administration^[8], the court held that the limit of solitary confinement that can be imposed under the Court’s order is strictly prescribed and provides internal evidence of its abnormal effect on the subject. Solitary confinement as substantive punishment cannot in any case exceed 14 days at a time with intervals of not less duration than such periods and further, it cannot be imposed until the medical officer certifies on the history ticket that the prisoner is fit to undergo it.^[9]

• Sec 75 Enhanced punishment for certain offences under Chapter XII or Chapter XVII after previous conviction.

Conclusion

Criminal law should emphasize more on working of reformative approach in punishment providing procedure of law. Although the influence of significant Supreme Court rulings on the nature of punishment such as landmark judgements and various other measures is effective and it also highlights the shift from focus on seeking revenge to an emphasis on the moral rehabilitation of offenders, but still some work can be done in this area.

1. Indian Penal Code,1860 ↑
2. Bachan Singh vs State Of Punjab (1982)3SCC24 ↑
3. Jagmohan Singh vs The State Of U.P AIR 1973 SUPREME COURT 947 ↑
4. Shardanannda Vs. State of Karnataka AIR 2008 SC 3040 ↑
5. Naib Singh vs State Of Punjab AIR 1986 SUPREME COURT 2192 ↑
6. State of Gujarat vs Hon’ble High Court of Gujarat AIR 1998 SUPREME COURT 3164 ↑
7. Shanti Lal vs State Of M.P 2007 (11) SCC 243, ↑
8. Sunil Batra vs Delhi Administration AIR 1980 SUPREME COURT 1579 ↑
9. Indian kanoon https://indiankanoon.org/doc/162242/ accessed 21 June,2024 ↑