The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that the time a prisoner spends in custody since arrest to judgment will be deducted from the period of imprisonment to which a convict is sentenced.

The Ministry of Home Affairs was directed to make necessary arrangements in this regard.

A bench of five justices led by Chief Justice Syed Mahmud Hossain passed the order during a virtual hearing on the appeal challenging the High Court’s order of imprisonment for life to a convict named Younus Ali.

The court has ordered to send the order document to the home and law ministries and also directed to release Younus Ali after he served his jail term.

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Lawyer Golam Abbas Chowdhury Dulal appeared for Younus Ali while Deputy Attorney General Biswajit Debnath stood for the state.

Lawyer Golam Abbas Chowdhury Dulal said his client has already spent 26 years behind the bars though according to the order of appellate division and the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) he should have been released by now.

Deputy Attorney General Biswajit Debnath said Younus Ali was given life sentence in a case from the lower court which was later upheld by the High Court.

According to section 35 A (1) of CrPC the time a convict passed in custody during the trial period of a case will be deducted from the sentence of imprisonment which was not mentioned in the sentence passed on the case of Younus Ali, said the deputy attorney general.

Earlier, in the case of Ataur Rahman Mridha versus the state, the appellate division said life imprisonment means rigorous imprisonment for 30 years and a convict will get 7.5 years’ remission facility according to law.

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In 2017, in a notification issued by the High Court it was said that if multiple criminal cases are under trial against an accused, the time he/she spent in jail custody will be deducted from the total sentence of imprisonment in each case verdict.

Though in most cases the direction is not implemented, said the DAG.