The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Monday asked the home ministry and prisons department to strictly comply with Section 35(A) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898.
Section 35(A) of the CrPC states, "The term any convict has served in jail during the trial proceedings will be deducted from the total tenure of his/her imprisonment."
A five-member full bench of the Appellate Division, headed by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain, passed the order while delivering a judgement on an appeal filed by a convict named Md Younus Ali, challenging a High Court verdict that sentenced him to life-term imprisonment in a murder case.
The bench also asked the home ministry and the jail authorities to take necessary steps to this effect.
The apex court asked the jail authorities to comply with the section regarding Younus Ali's imprisonment.
Younus Ali's lawyer Golam Abbas Chowdhury Dulal said if the section is complied with Younus Ali's imprisonment, then there will be no bar to his release from jail.
Mr Abbas Chowdhury said, "Younus has been in jail for 26 years. According to jail code, he has already served 34 years in jail whereas life imprisonment is 30 years. That's why we prayed to the court to consider the advantage of Section 35(A) of the Code of Criminal Procedure in case of Younus."
According to Section 35A(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, he said the tenure of any convict serving in jail during the trial proceedings is supposed to be deducted from the total imprisonment handed down by the court concerned to him or her in the case.
The apex court asked the home ministry and prisons department to strictly comply with the section and take necessary steps to this effect, the lawyer added.
A lower court sentenced Younus Ali to death in the case in 2020, and the High Court has commuted his death sentence to life imprisonment in 2005.
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