On 18th March, 2024, in a case of NAVAS @ MULANAVAS VS. STATE OF KERALA, CRIMINAL APPEAL NO. 1215 OF 2011, 2024 INSC 215, the Supreme Court of Indian sums up certain factors regarding the convicts’ period of sentence before remission.
Illustratively in the process of arriving at the number of years as the most appropriate for the case at hand, which the convict will have to undergo before which the remission powers could be invoked, some of the relevant factors that the courts bear in mind are:-
a) The number of deceased who are victims of that crime and their age and gender;
b) The nature of injuries including sexual assault if any;
c) The motive for which the offence was committed;
d) Whether the offence was committed when the convict was on bail in another case;
e) The premeditated nature of the offence;
f) The relationship between the offender and the victim;
g) The abuse of trust if any;
h) The criminal antecedents; and whether the convict, if released, would be a menace to the society.
POSITIVE FACTORS…
Some of the positive factors as follows,
1. Age of the convict;
2. The probability of reformation of convict;
3. The convict not being a professional killer;
4. The socio-economic condition of the accused;
5. The composition of the family of the accused and
6. Conduct expressing remorse.
