Says it is time that we clear up these major misconceptions and figure out the span of a life sentence.
Lahore (Pakistan Point News – 29th July, 2019) Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Asif Saeed Khosa has formed a larger bench to determine the span of life imprisonment.
A three-member Supreme Court bench headed by CJP Khosa took notice of the issue while hearing a petition to reduce a convict's life sentence into half.
Haroon-ur-Rashid was sentenced to life 12 times in 12 different cases of murder. Rashid's lawyer said that his client has been serving jail sentence since 1997 and has served a 22-year sentence.
During the hearing, the CJP inquired, "Is it not a misconception that a life sentence spans over 25 years?"
"When we don't know how long a person is going to live, how can we halve a life sentence," he said.
"I had been waiting for a long time for a case where we could determine the span of a life sentence. In a jail sentence, days and nights are both counted. In this manner, a convict comes out within five years. It is time that we clear up these major misconceptions and figure out the span of a life sentence. It is a matter of public interest," the CJP remarked.
The court issued notices to the attorney general, provincial advocate generals and prosecutor general in the case.
The court also ordered the registrar office to fix the matter for hearing in the first week of October.
