Jurisprudential Analysis of Mithu Singh vs. State of Punjab [AIR 1983 SC 473] and Validity of Section 303 IPC

The aforementioned case is one of the landmark judgments given by the honorable Supreme Court of India with regards to criminal law set up of India. The Indian Penal Code was given assent to by the then Governor-General on 6th of October, 1860 and it ultimately came into force on the 1st of January, 1862 inside the territory of India.2 The code contains over 550 sections framed in 23 chapters. Out of these, several sections have been repealed and several new sections have been added using amendments and as per adhering to orders and recommendations of Supreme Court of India. One such section of the code which was repealed courtesy of this Supreme Court judgment and that is Section 303. Section 303 of the IPC says that :- Whoever, being under sentence of [imprisonment for life] commits murder, shall be punished with death. 3 In this case counsel from the appellants side argued that section 303 of the IPC is unconstitutional and arbitrary as it propagates deprivation of life by the virtue of a procedure that is highly unfair and unjust. The respondents side in turn argued that as the constitutional validity of death sentence had already been upheld in the previous case of Bachan Singh Vs. State of Punjab4 and as Section 303 does nothing but lays down provision for capital punishment for an act of murder by a convict already serving punishment of life imprisonment, there is nothing wrong with the section and it must remain valid and operational5 .