4 Amicus Curie to suggest duration of life in prison

Dhaka, April 11 – The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Thursday appointed four eminent jurists as amicus curiae to give their expert opinions on whether the life term imprisonment means 22 and a half years or the jail sentence until natural death of a convict.
The four amicus curiae are: senior lawyer Barrister Rokanuddin Mahmud, advocate A F Hassan Ariff, Abdur Rezzak Khan and Advocate Monsurul Hoque Chowdhury.
A seven-member bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain on Thursday appointed them and fixed May 9 for next hearing on a review petition filed by one Ataur Mridha alias Ataur.
Ataur filed the petition seeking a review of the Supreme Court judgment which on February 2, 2014, ruled that life imprisonment means jail sentence until natural death.
In his review petition, the petitioner said as per relevant laws and according to another Supreme Court judgment, a convict has to serve in jail for 22 and a half years if he is sentenced to life imprisonment.
Advocate Khandaker Mahbub Hossain stood for review and Advocate Mohammad Shishir Monir assisted him while Attorney General Mahbubey Alam represented the state.
In the review hearing defence mentioned that a four-member bench headed by former chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha delivered a judgement that ‘ definition of life imprisonment is rest of natural
death’ in 2017.
Before this judgement, a four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Justice Iman Ali delivered a judgement that ‘definition of life imprisonment is 22.5 years imprisonment’. There are two judgements and it’s contradictory. So it’s necessary to resolve it.
During yesterday’s proceedings, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam prayed to the Supreme Court to settle review petition whether life imprisonment is jail sentence until death or its mean 22 and a half
years in jail as the matter is related to hundreds of thousands of lives.
Ataur had been convicted on the charge of murder case earlier. He is now in Jail for life imprisonment.
It may be mentioned that in India, life-term imprisonment is usually considered as imprisonment for 30 years.
But, in a verdict in 2012, the Indian Supreme Court said: “It appears to us there is a misconception that a prisoner serving a life sentence has an indefeasible right to be released on completion of either fourteen years or twenty years’ imprisonment. The prisoner has no such right. A convict undergoing life imprisonment is expected to remain in custody till the end of his life, subject to any remission granted by the appropriate government.” – Staff Reporter