KARACHI, Sept 21: The Sindh High Court on Thursday ordered the release of a prisoner convicted of murder attempt in two cases after holding that both sentences would run concurrently from the date of his arrest in the first case and that remissions would be allowed in both jail terms.
Petitioner Majeedur Rehman was arrested in August 2001 in the first case and was sentenced in June 2000 by a sessions court of Malir to five years rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs50,000 or two months’ jail in lieu thereof.
The trial of the second case, registered also by the same Malir police station, commenced in November 2002, from which he was shown to have been arrested in the case. He was handed down hard labour for six years and a fine of Rs20,000 or six months more in jail for default. He was allowed the benefit of remissions under Sections 382-B of the code of criminal procedure in both decisions.
The convict approached the jail authorities for remissions and release earlier this year, saying that he had served out his sentences.
The jail authorities thought that the sentences were to run simultaneously and that he was not entitled to remissions under the provisions of Qisas and Diyat provisions.
The authorities were also not willing to include his pre-trial imprisonment in the substantive period of punishment. He moved a writ petition through Advocate Abdul Razzak.
Citing a Supreme Court judgment, the petitioner’s counsel argued that under Section 385-B, CrPC, pre-sentence period spent in jail must be computed as part of substantive imprisonment. An accused is entitled to be put on trial or released on bail.
If the prosecution is unable to put him up for trial for any reason, the period he is confined to await his trial must be included in computation of his sentence. A criminal statute is to be strictly construed so far as it imposes restrictions and punishments. But its beneficial provisions such as those relating to remission should be interpreted liberally.
Allowing the petition, a division bench directed that the two sentenced awarded against the petitioner would run concurrently and if he had served out his sentence after computation of remissions, he should be released on payment of fines or after serving additional jail terms.
