Supreme Court clarifies: capping life imprisonment at 20 years without remission does not curtail the convict’s right to release after serving that judicially fixed term
In Monu Jayrambhai Tajpariya v. State of Gujarat, (2026) 2 SCC 398, the Supreme Court clarified that where a court imposes life imprisonment with a fixed non-remittable term of 20 years, such a direction does not unlawfully curtail the convict’s right to remission, but merely excludes the operation of remission during that judicially mandated period. The Court held that the High Court’s sentencing structure was valid because it only required the appellant to undergo 20 years of actual imprisonment, and once that full period is completed, the convict becomes entitled to release by completion of sentence itself, not by seeking a separate order of remission. In essence, the judgment draws a clear distinction between remission as a reduction of an unexpired sentence and release after full service of a court-fixed term, reinforcing that the State cannot continue detention beyond the sentence actually imposed by the Court.
A court can postpone remission by fixing a real minimum term.
But once that term is fully served, liberty cannot be held hostage to a second permission.
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