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I'm thinking of writing a hobbyist thesis on the parole and probation and mandatory minimum laws in Asia.

And I've been looking for case law regarding the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPc) sections 432/433 about if those laws are applicable to mandatory minimum sentences or not. There are various directories I searched through and couldn't find anything (possibly because the provisions of these sections are at the discretion of governments rather than courts)

edit;; some of the websites I've tried searching for case law include

Indiankanoon , AIRonline , SCI.in/judgements

I can't like those sites firectly because of the phone u.i bugs , I'll try that later

but these are the main 3 directories where 90% of the cases are

I also want to know if crpc 432 and 433 are applicable In case a law not only has a minimum sentance but also a non obstante clause like this

the provisions of this act are regardless of anything contained in any other law for the time being in force

the supreme court in India has declared that "for the time being in force" means any time unless expressly provided by any other law for the time being in force

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    To save duplication of effort, can you include the directories have you tried, please.
    – user35069
    Commented May 3, 2023 at 7:50
  • Multiple questions in one post tend to get closed so I've edited out your secondary question - if you have another question related to this one, please post it separately with a link back to here.
    – user35069
    Commented May 3, 2023 at 11:58

2 Answers 2

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It's not clear what specific detail you're looking for, but Casemine offers these results which may assist with your research:

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  • what I want to know is that if a mandatory minimum sentance is passed , can it be remmitted or commuted under crpc 432 or 433 ?
    – user49663
    Commented May 4, 2023 at 23:51
  • searching the words "minimum" and the likes didn't produce results which makes me wonder how often is this even used by governments
    – user49663
    Commented May 5, 2023 at 1:44
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+500

I found a couple of cases that answer your question, using the Section wise search on AIROnline for Sections 432 and 433 of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

  1. State of Rajasthan v. Jamil Khan

If it has mandated a minimum sentence for certain offences, the Government being its delegate, cannot interfere with the same in exercise of their power for remission or commutation. Neither Section 432 nor Section 433 of Cr.PC hence contains a non-obstante provision. Therefore, the minimum sentence provided for any offence cannot be and shall not be remitted or commuted by the Government in exercise of their power under Section 432 or 433 of the Cr.PC. Wherever the Indian Penal Code or such penal statutes have provided for a minimum sentence for any offence, to that extent, the power of remission or commutation has to be read as restricted; otherwise the whole purpose of punishment will be defeated and it will be a mockery on sentencing.

  1. Union of India v. Sriharan

In this case, the Court made its observations while discussing the applicability of mandatory minimum sentence under Section 433-A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which prescribes a minimum life imprisonment of 14 years on conviction for certain offences and upon commutation from a sentence of death penalty.

  1. It observed that it cannot create a separate category for offences where "the death penalty might be substituted by the punishment for imprisonment for life or imprisonment for a term in excess of fourteen years and to put that category beyond application of remission?" since the Section 433-A already contains an exercise of legislative power in that regard.

  2. With reference to your question regarding non-obstante clauses where the legislature holds remission to be inapplicable, it cites the existence of Section 32A of the NDPS Act as being a valid type of such non-obstante provision.

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  • this was a 2 bench decision , is it binding or unchallengable
    – user49663
    Commented May 12, 2023 at 15:30
  • A 2 judge division bench binds other division benches of the same or smaller number of judges. Beyond that, doctrine of stare decisis under Article 141 of the Constitution makes the decision applicable in all subordinate Courts in the country. indiankanoon.org/doc/505842
    – sankeiy
    Commented May 12, 2023 at 16:28
  • is there absolutely no way to bypass a mandatory minimum sentance statutorily
    – user49663
    Commented May 12, 2023 at 19:38
  • Early releases for good conduct and other such grounds under jail and police manuals is one way of circumventing the issue of minimum sentence.
    – sankeiy
    Commented May 13, 2023 at 0:56
  • how does this work ? @sankeiy
    – user49663
    Commented Jun 4, 2023 at 13:07

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