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CHAPTER 19
SENTENCES
PART A -- GENERAL
1. The award of suitable sentence depends on a variety of considerations.-- The
determination of appropriate punishment after the conviction of an offender is often a
question of great difficulty and always requires careful consideration. The law prescribes
the nature and the limit of the punishment permissible for an offence, but the Court has
to determine in each case a sentence suited to the offence and the offender. The maximum
punishment prescribed by the law for any offence is intended for the gravest of its kind
and it is rarely necessary in practice to go up to the maximum. The measure of punishment
in any particular instance depends upon a variety of considerations such as the motive for
the crime, its gravity, the character of the offender, his age, antecedents and other
extenuating or aggravating circumstances, such as sudden temptation, previous convictions,
and so forth, which have all to be carefully weighed by the Court in passing the sentence.
*
[2. Various kinds of punishments. Minimum and enhanced punishments
prescribed in different cases.- The Pakistan Penal Code permits (vide section 53) the
following classes of punishments viz. fine, forfeiture of property, imprisonment, rigorous
or simple, imprisonment for life and death. The Whipping Act, 1909, permits whipping to be
imposed in lieu of or in addition to the punishments prescribed for certain specified
offences under the Pakistan Penal Code as well as under other Acts. The Reformatory
Schools Act, 1897, provides for "youthful offenders" (i.e. offenders below the
age of 15) sentenced to imprisonment being detained in a Reformatory School instead of
being sent to jail. The Prohibition of offenders Ordinance, 1960 enables the Court to
release offenders in certain cases after taking a bond for good behaviour or in trivial
cases even with a mere admonition. On the other hand there are certain offences for which
a minimum punishment is prescribed (see e.g., section 397 Pakistan Penal Code), and the
Court cannot pass a lesser sentence on a person convicted of such an offence. Section 75
of the Pakistan Penal Code makes a previous convict liable to enhanced punishment in the
case of certain offences. There are also other Acts of the Legislature (e.g; the Punjab
Excise Act), which lay down an enhanced penalty for repetition of an offence.
In certain cases, the Court can take action when passing the sentence to ensure good
behaviour on the part of a convict on his release from jail. In the case of a person
convicted of an offence involving a breach of the peace, the court can order him to
execute a bond for keeping peace for a period up to three years (section 106, of the Code
of Criminal Procedure).
3. Limits of the sentences which different classes of Magistrates can impose.-
In passing sentences, the Court has not only to bear in mind the nature and the limits of
the punishment prescribed for the offence of which the accused is found guilty, but also
the nature and the limit of the punishment which it is empowered to impose. Sections 31 to
35 of the Code of Criminal Procedure lay down the limits of the sentences which different
classes of Courts are empowered to impose. Magistrates of the 2nd and 3rd class are not
empowered to pass a sentence of whipping.
4. Procedure when Magistrate thinks that the accused should receive greater
punishment than he can award.- Whenever a Magistrate of the 2nd or 3rd class having
jurisdiction is of the opinion after hearing the evidence for the prosecution and the
accused that an offender should receive a punishment different in kind from or more severe
than, that which such Magistrate is empowered to inflict, or that he ought to be required
to execute a bond under section 106 of the Code he should take action under section 349 of
the Code of Criminal Procedure, record the opinion and submit his proceedings, and forward
the accused to a Magistrate of the Ist Class specially empowered in this behalf by the
Provincial Government. Similarly when a Magistrate of the 1st Class is of opinion that an
offender owing to previous convictions or other circumstances deserves a more severe
sentence than what he can inflict, he should report the case to the Sessions Judge with a
view to have it transferred to a Magistrate empowered under section 30 of the Code of
Criminal Procedure or should send the case to the Court of Session if the case is serious
enough to justify that course. (See sections 346 and 347 of the Code. See also chapter 23
of these Rules)].
5. Limitation imposed by Section 71, Pakistan Penal Code and section 35, Criminal
Procedure Code. Sentences in cases of accused convicted of several offences. Concurrent
sentences; Recommendation to Government for remission or commutation of punishment.-- Where
a person is convicted of an offence which is made up of parts each of which constituted an
offence or when a person is convicted of more offences than one, the limitations imposed
by section 71 of Pakistan Penal Code, and section 35 **[of the] Code of
Criminal Procedure, must be adhered to. When a person is convicted of more than one
offence, the Court should be careful to pass a separate sentence for each offence, so that
if the conviction is set aside on appeal with respect to one of the offences, there will
be no room for doubt as to the sentences passed with respect to the rest. The Court has a
discretion to make such sentences run concurrently, and this discretion should be
exercised so as to make the effective sentence proportionate to the gravity of the
offence. Under Section 397 of the Criminal Procedure Code ***[...] the
Court has ***[...] power to order, in the case of an accused person, who
is already undergoing imprisonment for another offence, that a subsequent sentence of
imprisonment passed on him shall take effect at once and run concurrently with the
sentence he is undergoing.
It happens at times that a sentence which a Judge or Magistrate can pass under the law
is unsuitable in view of all the circumstances of the case. In such cases all that can be
done is to make a recommendation to the Provincial Government to take action under
sections 401 and 402 of the Criminal Procedure Code. When a Sessions Judge or a Magistrate
passing a sentence wishes a case to be brought to the notice of the Provincial Government
for remission or commutation of the punishment, he should submit the recommendation with
his proceedings through the High Court; otherwise the High Court may hear in appeal a case
in which Government has remitted *[or] commuted punishment, without
knowing of such remission or commutation.
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