A full bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) formulating guidelines for the special courts (Control of Narcotic Substances) for awarding conviction to the culprits involved in sale and smuggling of narcotic substances held that woman and a child, because of their gender and tender age, are to be awarded one-third less sentence of imprisonment.
Fine and sentence in default of payment of fine than the normal prescribed sentence and the sentence of imprisonment to be passed against them is to be a sentence of simple imprisonment and the sentence of death may not be passed against them.
The bench however observed that if a woman or a child is a previous convict then the sentence to be awarded is to be the same as for a male previous convict except that the sentence of imprisonment for a woman or a child is to be a sentence of simple imprisonment and the sentence of death may not be passed against them.
The bench further held that a previous convict is to be awarded one third more sentence of imprisonment, fine and sentence in default of payment of fine than the normal sentence prescribed above.
If the sentence of imprisonment against a previous convict calculated on the basis of the above principle exceeds the maximum sentence of imprisonment prescribed by the law then the convict is to be awarded the maximum sentence of imprisonment prescribed by the law and the fine to be imposed upon him and the sentence of imprisonment in default of payment of fine are to be double the fine and double the sentence of imprisonment in default of payment of fine prescribed as the normal sentence the bench added.
The bench held that in a particular case carrying some special features relevant to the matter of sentence a court may depart from the norms and standards prescribed but in all such cases the court concerned shall be obliged to record its reasons for such departure.
The bench directed the Office of the Court to fix the appeal and the other connected matters before the appropriate benches for their decision in accordance with the law. The Office is also directed to send a copy of this judgement to all the Judges of the Special Courts (Control of Narcotic Substances).
Sessions judges and Additional Sessions judges in the province of the Punjab for their information and guidance. The bench held that variable approach for awarding sentence clearly underscore the importance of uniformity and standardisation in the matter of sentencing in this area and, thus, the efficacy and necessity of adopting a sentencing policy in that regard cannot be overstated.
The bench held that the quintessence of the civilisations evolution and growth in the legal field is a progression from dispensation of justice according to the principle of "justice, equity and good conscience" to "justice according to the law".
Predictability of judicial response to an action or inaction of a person is important because, by and large, people living in a community adapt or mould their conduct keeping in view the law of the land and a probable judicial reaction to their actions or inactions.
The essence, therefore, is that, proverbially speaking, justice should not vary with the size of the Chancellors foot but a person inviting a legal intervention into his conduct should be able to appreciate in advance as to how he is likely to be treated by a Judge dealing with application of the relevant law to that persons conduct.
Comments
Comments are closed.