Power to suspend or remit sentences
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Summary
The appropriate Government can suspend or remit a sentence, wholly or partly, at any time and may impose conditions which the convicted person must accept. It can ask the presiding judge for an opinion and the trial record before deciding. If a condition is broken, the Government may cancel the remission and have the person arrested without warrant to serve the unexpired sentence. Rules can regulate petitions; Central Government handles Union matters and State Governments handle other cases.
Example
Rohan is sentenced to two years imprisonment for theft and files a petition to the State government for remission while in jail. The State asks the trial judge for his opinion and the trial record, then suspends the sentence on condition of good conduct. When Rohan breaches that condition, the State cancels the suspension and has him arrested without warrant to serve the remaining term.
Bare Act
Enacted text(1) When any person has been sentenced to punishment for an offence, the appropriate Government may, at any time, without conditions or upon any conditions which the person sentenced accepts, suspend the execution of his sentence or remit the whole or any part of the punishment to which he has been sentenced.
(2) Whenever an application is made to the appropriate Government for the suspension or remission of a sentence, the appropriate Government may require the presiding Judge of the Court before or by which the conviction was had or confirmed, to state his opinion as to whether the application should be granted or refused, together with his reasons for such opinion and also to forward with the statement of such opinion a certified copy of the record of the trial or of such record thereof as exists.
(3) If any condition on which a sentence has been suspended or remitted is, in the opinion of the appropriate Government, not fulfilled, the appropriate Government may cancel the suspension or remission, and thereupon the person in whose favour the sentence has been suspended or remitted may, if at large, be arrested by any police officer, without warrant and remanded to undergo the unexpired portion of the sentence.
(4) The condition on which a sentence is suspended or remitted under this section may be one to be fulfilled by the person in whose favour the sentence is suspended or remitted, or one independent of his will.
(5) The appropriate Government may, by general rules or special orders, give directions as to the suspension of sentences and the conditions on which petitions should be presented and dealt with:
Provided that in the case of any sentence (other than a sentence of fine) passed on a person above the age of eighteen years, no such petition by the person sentenced or by any other person on his behalf shall be entertained, unless the person sentenced is in jail, and-
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(a) where such petition is made by the person sentenced, it is presented through the officer in charge of the jail; or
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(b) where such petition is made by any other person, it contains a declaration that the person sentenced is in jail.
(6) The provisions of the above sub-sections shall also apply to any order passed by a Criminal Court under any section of this Sanhita or of any other law, which restricts the liberty of any person or imposes any liability upon him or his property.
(7) In this section and in section 474, the expression "appropriate Government" means,-
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(a) in cases where the sentence is for an offence against, or the order referred to in sub-section (6) is passed under, any law relating to a matter to which the executive power of the Union extends, the Central Government;
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(b) in other cases, the Government of the State within which the offender is sentenced or the said order is passed.
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