{"id":23294,"date":"2025-08-12T16:56:44","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T11:26:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mediapbn.com\/?p=23294"},"modified":"2025-08-12T17:53:15","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T12:23:15","slug":"supreme-court-issues-landmark-ruling-on-fixed-term-life-sentences","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mediapbn.com\/?p=23294","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court issues landmark ruling on fixed-term life sentences"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">New Delhi \u2014 The Supreme Court has delivered a significant ruling on fixed-term life imprisonment, stating that if a convict is awarded life imprisonment for a specified period\u2014such as 20 years\u2014they are entitled to immediate release <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">once that term <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">is completed<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">A bench of Justice B.V. Nagarathna and Justice K.V. Viswanathan observed that denying release after completion of the fixed term would effectively mean the convict spends their entire life in prison, defeating the purpose of the <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">sentence\u2019s<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> defined duration. <\/span>Sukhdev Pehalwan, convicted in the 2002 Nitish Katara murder case, was sentenced to life imprisonment for 20 years.<\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Having served his <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">full<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> sentence by March 2025, the Supreme Court had ordered his release on July 29. However, the Sentence Review Board blocked his release, citing his conduct and behaviour in jail.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Challenging the <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Board\u2019s<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> decision, Sukhdev filed a petition before the apex court. On August 12, the court ruled in his favour, reinforcing that once a fixed life term is over, release is mandatory unless there is a specific legal ground to extend imprisonment.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New Delhi \u2014 The Supreme Court has delivered a significant ruling on fixed-term life imprisonment, stating that if a convict<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":697,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,229],"tags":[277,274,276,275,270],"class_list":["post-23294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-latest-news","category-world-news","tag-convicts","tag-lifeterm","tag-murder","tag-ruling","tag-supremecourt"],"magazineBlocksPostFeaturedMedia":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/mediapbn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/supreem-court-sc-150x150.jpg","medium":"https:\/\/mediapbn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/supreem-court-sc-300x222.jpg","medium_large":"https:\/\/mediapbn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/supreem-court-sc.jpg","large":"https:\/\/mediapbn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/supreem-court-sc.jpg","1536x1536":"https:\/\/mediapbn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/supreem-court-sc.jpg","2048x2048":"https:\/\/mediapbn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/supreem-court-sc.jpg","colormag-highlighted-post":"https:\/\/mediapbn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/supreem-court-sc-392x272.jpg","colormag-featured-post-medium":"https:\/\/mediapbn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/supreem-court-sc-390x205.jpg","colormag-featured-post-small":"https:\/\/mediapbn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/supreem-court-sc-130x90.jpg","colormag-featured-image":"https:\/\/mediapbn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/supreem-court-sc.jpg","colormag-default-news":"https:\/\/mediapbn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/supreem-court-sc-150x150.jpg","colormag-featured-image-large":"https:\/\/mediapbn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/supreem-court-sc.jpg"},"magazineBlocksPostAuthor":{"name":"Media PBN Staff","avatar":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/988c37f52d2788cc09b644c99930b603270adfec6434aa70fb4d6fcc8fb1013a?s=96&d=mm&r=g"},"magazineBlocksPostCommentsNumber":"0","magazineBlocksPostExcerpt":"New Delhi \u2014 The Supreme Court has delivered a significant ruling on fixed-term life imprisonment, stating that if a convict","magazineBlocksPostCategories":["All Latest News","World News"],"magazineBlocksPostViewCount":289,"magazineBlocksPostReadTime":1,"magazine_blocks_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/mediapbn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/supreem-court-sc.jpg",555,410,false],"medium":["https:\/\/mediapbn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/supreem-court-sc-300x222.jpg",300,222,true],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/mediapbn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/supreem-court-sc-150x150.jpg",150,150,true]},"magazine_blocks_author":{"display_name":"Media PBN Staff","author_link":"https:\/\/mediapbn.com\/?author=1"},"magazine_blocks_comment":0,"magazine_blocks_author_image":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/988c37f52d2788cc09b644c99930b603270adfec6434aa70fb4d6fcc8fb1013a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","magazine_blocks_category":"<a href=\"#\" class=\"category-link category-link-12\">All Latest News<\/a> <a href=\"#\" class=\"category-link category-link-229\">World News<\/a>","yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - 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