The intervention came just six days after the High Court, on December 23, suspended Sengar’s life sentence, which triggered intense public debate. Importantly, ‘suspension of sentence’, which is a discretionary judicial power, halts only the punishment and not the finding of guilt. The law draws a clear distinction between ‘suspension of sentence’ in cases involving short-term or fixed-term sentences, where it is the norm, and in serious offences, often punishable with life imprisonment, where it is an exception. In a case that laid bare a prolonged struggle for justice, structural barriers and deep institutional failures in confronting entrenched power, the suspension of a life sentence raises serious concerns. Further, in Shivani Tyagi vs. State of Uttar Pradesh (2024), the SC clarified that long incarceration alone cannot justify ‘suspension of sentence’ in life imprisonment cases.

Source: The Hindu December 31, 2025 12:58 UTC