Law and You > Criminal Laws > Indian Penal Code > Types of Punishments Under IPC (S.53 IPC)
Punishment has five recognized purposes: deterrence, incapacitation, rehabilitation, retribution, and restitution. Different types of punishments under IPC are death sentence, imprisonment, forfeiture of property, and fine.
- Chapter III of the Indian Penal Code defines different punishments for various offences. Section 53 of the Indian Penal Code enumerates the different punishments which the courts may award to a person convicted for a crime. These are death, imprisonment for life, rigorous or simple imprisonment, forfeiture of property and fine.
- The 1995 amendment of IPC introduced Section 53A by virtue of which any reference to ‘transportation of life’ is to be considered as a reference to ‘imprisonment of life’.
S. 53:Punishments:
The punishments to which offenders are liable under the provisions of this Code are—
First.—Death;
Secondly.—Imprisonment for life
Fourthly.—Imprisonment, which is of two descriptions, namely: — (1) Rigorous, that is, with hard labour; (2) Simple;
Fifthly.—Forfeiture of property;
Sixthly.—Fine.
S. 53(A): Construction of reference to transportation:
(1) Subject to the provisions of sub-section (2) and sub-section (3), any reference to “transportation for life” in any other law for the time being in force or in any instrument or order having effect by virtue of any such law or of any enactment repealed shall be construed as a reference to “imprisonment for life”.
(2) In every case in which a sentence of transportation for a term has been passed before the commencement of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Act, 5 [1955 (26 of 1955)], the offender shall be dealt with in the same manner as if sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for the same term.
(3) Any reference to transportation for a term or to transportation for any shorter term (by whatever name called) in any other law for the time being in force shall be deemed to have been omitted.
(4) Any reference to “transportation” in any other law for the time being in force shall,— (a) if the expression means transportation for life, be construed as a reference to imprisonment for life; (b) if the expression means transportation for any shorter term, be deemed to have been omitted.
Brief Explanation of Different Punishments:
Death sentence:
- It is also known as capital punishment. The Death sentence may be awarded for offences under sections 121, 132, 194, 302, 305, 307, 364-A, 376 – E, and 396 of the IPC. In addition to the above, the death penalty can also be imposed under Ss. 34, 109, 120-B, and 149 of IPC.
- The court is not bound to award a death sentence in the above cases, but it may do so. S. 303 of the IPC was the only section by which the award of the death sentence was compulsory. The S.303 is struck down by the Supreme Court terming it as unconstitutional. Mithu v. State of Punjab, AIR 1983 SC 4731.
Imprisonment for life:
- The words ‘imprisonment for life’ was substituted for ‘transportation for life’ by Act XXVI of 1955. Imprisonment for life is always rigorous, never simple.
- Imprisonment for life may be awarded under sections 121, 121-A, 122, 124-A, 125, 128, 130, 131, 132, 194, 195, 195-A, 222, 225, 232, 238, 255, 302, 304, 305, 307, 311, 313, 314, 326, 329, 364, 364-A, 371, 376, 377, 388, 389, 394, 395, 396, 400. 409, 412, 433, 436, 437, 449, 460, 467, 472, 474, 475, 477 and 511 of the Code.
Imprisonment:
- There are two kinds of imprisonment under this section rigorous, that is, with hard labour (during the tenure of his imprisonment one has to do hard labour), and simple (only imprisonment and without any hard labour).
- Offences under sections 194 and 449 of the Code are punishable with rigorous imprisonment only without any alternative of simple imprisonment being imposed.
- An offender is punishable with simple imprisonment for committing an offence under any of the sections 168, 169, 172, 173, 174, 175, 176, 178, 179, 180, 187, 188, 223, 225- A, 228, 291, 341, 500, 501, 502, 509 and 510 of the Code.
- There are a few sections in the Indian Panel Code, like sections 304-B, 397 and 398, wherein minimum mandatory imprisonment of seven years have been provided. In section 376 also a minimum mandatory of imprisonment of seven years for ordinary rape and ten years for custodial rape as well as gang rape has been provided. However, in this Section, the Court has been empowered to impose less than the minimum mandatory imprisonment also by stating special reasons for the same in the judgment.
- The minimum duration of imprisonment provided for an offence under the Code is imprisonment for twenty-four hours under section 510 of the Code. However, sentences of imprisonment till rising of the Court have been imposed in very exceptional cases and they mean that the convict shall remain confined in the premises of the Court till the Court rises.
Forfeiture of property:
- Absolute forfeiture of property dealt with under sections 61 and 62, previously in operation for offences of high political nature and offences punishable with death, has been abolished by the Indian Penal Code (Amendment) Act, 1921.
- The Indian Penal Code provides the punishment of forfeiture of specific property for offences under sections 126, 127, 169 and 263-A of the Code.
- The Rajasthan High Court has held in Brijlal v. State, that confiscation of a weapon of offence is not forfeiture of property within the meaning of section 53 of the Code.
Fine:
- Punishments in the form of imprisonment or fine or both have been provided under many sections of the Code and the Courts have been empowered to award whatever sentence they deem fit out of the above.
- It is at the discretion of the Court to decide as to whether either imprisonment or fine or both are to be awarded in a particular case. While imposing fine the Courts have kept in mind many important factors including the nature of the offence committed, capacity of the offender to pay and usefulness of the imposition of fine.
- Fine is the only punishment provided under the Indian Penal Code in the following sections: 155, 156, 171-G, 154, 294-A, 137, 171-H, 171-1, 278, 263-A, 283 and 29.
- In sections 154 and 294-A the maximum limit of the fine has been fixed at Rs. 1000/- only.
- Sections 137, 171-H, 171-1 and 278 provide for a maximum fine of Rs. 500/- only.
- Under sections 263-A, 283 and 290 the maximum limit of the fine has been fixed at Rs. 200/- only.
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