Imprisonment to Terminate on Payment of Fine - Section 68
To maintain peace and harmony, law and order should be maintained. If someone breaks the law he/she should be punished not just because he/she has committed any offence or breaks the law but to set an example for others that if they break any law they will face consequences. But all crimes are not the same, some crimes are serious in nature and some are not that serious therefore punishment cannot be the same, the punishment should be on the basis of the gravity of the offence. We are going to discuss what types of punishment are there according to Indian Penal Code and what happens when the accused did not comply with the punishment or what happens when the accused complies with the punishment? Punishments: Section 53 of the Indian Penal Code talks about punishment, it states that there are basically five types of punishment, which are as follows: Death: Some crimes are very serious or heinous for example brutal murder or planned murder. For such crimes the punishment is death penalty, but death penalty is a big punishment, which is why the judge has to be sure that the accused has committed the offence or there has to be solid proofs and evidence that shows accused is guilty. Hence the court made it very clear that death penalty will only be given in the rarest of rare case, this was discussed in certain landmark cases like Bachan Singh v. State of Punjab, Mithu v. State of Punjab, Jagmohan Singh v. State of U.P etc. Consult the best lawyer online Imprisonment for life: Imprisonment for life in simple terms means that the accused will be in prison for the rest of his life which means he/she will be in prison till the accused die naturally. Imprisonment: Not all the cases are like murder or rarest of the rare case where the punishment should be death penalty or life imprisonment, there are some cases which are less serious as compared to murder or rape etc and still gravity of the offence is serious for such offence punishment is imprisonment, which is further classified into: Rigorous (hard work): Some cases are serious or may be committed by habitual offenders or the accused needs to be punished and reformed, in such cases the accused would be punished with rigorous imprisonment which means the accused has to do hard work during his term in the prison. Simple: In cases like criminal breach of trust or misappropriation etc which are not that serious or heinous imprisonment is still there but they don’t have to work, they will only be imprisoned.
Forfeiture of property: Some cases which are especially related to money frauds or property or the cases related to economic offence in such cases the Court may order forfeiture of property as addition to the punishment.
Fine: Some cases are either pity or less serious the Court either order fine or order fine as additional punishment.
What happened when the accused did not pay the fine?
Section 64 of the Indian Penal Code states that where the punishment of the offence is either imprisonment or fine or both in such cases if the court punish the accused with fine with imprisonment or without imprisonment or the court punish the accused with fine only, and in case the accused failed to pay the fine then the accused should be punished with imprisonment, and the term for the imprisonment should be more than the term he/she is sentenced or he/she is liable.
Section 67 of the Indian Penal Code states that if the punishment for the offence is only fine and the accused failed to pay the fine in that case the Court may order imprisonment for that accused but in order to do so the Court needs to keep certain things in mind which are as follows:
If the accused failed to pay the fine the court can punish the accused with imprisonment but it should be simple imprisonment.
If the accused has to pay the fine not exceeding fifty rupees then the term for imprisonment in case of default should not exceed two months.
If the accused has to pay the fine not exceeding hundred rupees then the term for imprisonment should not exceed four months.
The term for imprisonment should not be exceeded in any other case.
What happens when the accused sentenced to imprisonment for non-payment of fine pays the fine?
Section 68 of the Indian Penal Code states that if the accused who is in prison for not paying the fine finally pays the fine or the fine is recovered through legal process the punishment for imprisonment should be terminated the moment the fine is paid and the person should be released.
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Illustration: A is charged and punished to pay the fine of five hundred rupees but A did not pay because he did not have it so the court punished A with imprisonment for Six months. A had a watch worth five hundred rupees the court ordered to recover the money from the watch. After recovering the money from the watch the court terminated his punishment for imprisonment and released him, because the fine A had to pay was recovered through legal process.
Conclusion: Hence it is concluded that there are different types of punishment and according to the gravity of offence the Court decide the punishment and in case where the punishment is either imprisonment or fine or both in such cases failure in paying the fine whether the fine is with imprisonment or without imprisonment the accused would be punished with imprisonment if he/she is punished with imprisonment and fine then more than the term for imprisonment should be more than he/she already got and in case where the punishment is only fine and the accused is failed to pay the fine that the accused would be imprisoned according to the scale mentioned under section 67 of the Indian Penal Code and if accused who is imprisonment because he did not paid the fine but he/she either paid the fine or the fine is recovered through legal process then the accused would be released or the punishment for imprisonment would be terminated.
This article was drafted by Ms. Charu Shrivastava, B.A.LLB(H), Galgotias University, Greater Noida. U.P.| Offence | Punishment | Cognizance | Bail | Triable By |
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