commutation
Commutation changes the nature of the sentence. Remission reduces its length without changing its nature; a pardon wipes out the conviction's punishment altogether; reprieve and respite postpone or soften it. The power exists under Articles 72 and 161, and by statute in s.5 BNS (old s.55 IPC) and s.474 BNSS (old s.433 CrPC), which allow the appropriate government to commute without the convict's consent.
Where a death sentence is commuted to life, the convict must serve at least fourteen years before release (s.475 BNSS, old s.433A). Courts also commute: inordinate, unexplained delay in deciding a mercy petition is a ground to commute death to life imprisonment.
Example
Because the mercy petition lay undecided for eleven years without explanation, the Supreme Court ordered commutation of the death sentence to life imprisonment.
In Indian law
- Articles 72 and 161, Constitution of India
- Sections 474 and 475, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (old ss.433 and 433A CrPC)
- Shatrughan Chauhan v. Union of India, 2014 INSC 46: delay in deciding mercy petitions as a ground for commutation
See also
pardon · remission · death penalty · pardoning power
Read more in the study notes
- Execution, suspension, remission and commutation of sentences; mercy petitions (Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita)
- Punishments under the BNS, including community service (Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita)
- The President of India (Constitutional Law II)
- Law and Lawyers: Dasappa's case, the Lahore judgment and the Punjab cases (English)
- Calculation of compensation, notice and claim, and the competent authority (Labour and Industrial Law II)
- Reform of justice delivery: legal aid, Lok Adalats, ADR, Gram Nyayalayas, PIL and plea bargaining (Law and Social Transformation in India)