JALANDHAR: In a unique judgment, the Jalandhar District and Sessions Judge, Mr Jagroop Singh Mahal, on Wednesday sentenced three students to life imprisonment till death. Handing over the life imprisonment sentence on three drug addicts and former students of the local Apeejay College — Sumit Chopra, Nitin Kumar and Vikramjit — Mr Mahal said the convicts would undergo consecutive sentences for all the five offences, including two murders. In other words it meant that the three would have to undergo life imprisonment for 62 years.

This is an exceptional sentence and parts away from the usual practice of handing over sentences in a concurrent manner for different offences. This reduces the life imprisonment tenure.

The sentence has generated a great deal of curiosity among the legal luminaries. According to Mr Surinder Kapoor, a lawyer of Jalandhar, “I have never come across such a sentence. Anyway this is a new experiment”.

The three had allegedly killed an old lady, Bimla Rani, who was a close relative of one of the three accused, and her maid servant in the Green Park Avenue on September 10, 2001.

After committing the crime, the three broke into the woman’s house to lay their hands on cash and jewellery. They were arrested and booked under Sections 302, 392, 329 and 201 of the IPC.

Under the sentence the three would have to undergo imprisonment for two murders and all other offences separately which adds up to 62 years, that is if the sentence remains unchallenged. “I have done the experiment and I think this is fully in accordance with legal provisions”, said Mr Mahal. The District and Sessions Judge specified categorically that the accused would not be accorded any remission or parole during the imprisonment.

“They will serve their sentence in prison till death”, said Mr Mahal.— By arrangement with Tribune News Service/Chandigarh