mental health condition of convict Imdad Ali, his sentence of death may be
converted into imprisonment for life. Without touching the mental health condition
of convict Imdad Ali, we have observed that there are sufficient
reasons/circumstances available on record, which warrant conversion of his death
sentence to imprisonment for life. Firstly, the motive set up by the prosecution was
disbelieved by the trial Court in Para 25 of its judgment after assigning valid and
convincing reasons. This fact was not considered by this Court while dismissing the
appeal of Imdad Ali perhaps due to lack of proper assistance. This oversight
qualifies as a ground for review and consequently converting the sentence of death
to imprisonment for life. Secondly, as earlier pointed out, convict Imdad Ali has
already served out about 20 years of his substantive sentence. Therefore, on the
principle of legitimate expectancy of life recently considered by this Court in the
case of Sikandar Hayat and another v. The State and others22, he is entitled to
conversion of death sentence to that of imprisonment for life. Resultantly, Criminal
Review Petition No. 170 of 2016 is allowed. The judgment passed by this Court in
Crl. Appeal No. 619 of 2009 is reviewed and recalled. Consequently, Crl. Appeal
No. 619 of 2009 is partly allowed. The conviction of appellant Imdad Ali under
section 302(b), P.P.C. is maintained, however, his sentence of death is converted
into imprisonment for life, with benefit of section 382-B, Cr.P.C. The amount of
compensation and sentence in its default shall remain intact.
(C.R.Ps. Nos. 420 and 424 of 2016)
75. As already mentioned in Para 8 above, Mst. Safia Bano (wife of convict
Imdad Ali) has filed C.R.P. No. 420 of 2016, whereas C.R.P. No. 424 of 2016 has
been filed by the Inspector General of Prisons, Punjab seeking review of this
Court's judgment in C.P. No. 2990 of 2016 dated 27.09.2016, which is reported as
PLD 2017 SC 18, passed while placing reliance upon the view of the Supreme
Court of India in the case of Amrit Bhushan Gupta v. Union of India and others23
and Ram Narain Gupta v. Smt. Rameshwari Gupta24. It appears that this Court was
not properly assisted in the matter which led to a misplaced reliance upon the case
of Ram Narain supra which in fact dealt with the question of mental illness with
regard to the dissolution of marriage considering the provisions laid down in the
Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. The case was not relevant to the distinguishable
circumstances of the case of Imdad Ali. In this backdrop, Paragraphs 9 and 10 of
the judgment rendered in the case of Ram Narain are being reproduced for ease of
reference:"9. The point, however, to note is that S. 13(1)(iii) does not make the mere
existence of a mental disorder of any degree sufficient in law to justify the
dissolution of a marriage. Section 13 (1)(iii) provides:
"S.13. Divorce: (1) Any marriage solemnised, whether before or after the
commencement of this Act, may, on a petition presented by either husband
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