Section 5, Commutation of Sentence, The Bharitya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS)

Section 5. Commutation of sentence.

—The appropriate Government may, without the consent of the offender, commute any punishment under this Sanhita to any other punishment in accordance with section 474 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023.

Explanation.—For the purposes of this section the expression “appropriate Government” means, —

(a) in cases where the sentence is a sentence of death or is for an offence against any law relating to a matter to which the executive power of the Union extends, the Central Government; and

(b) in cases where the sentence (whether of death or not) is for an offence against any law relating to a matter to which the executive power of the State extends, the Government of the State within which the offender is sentenced.

Comments

Section 5 of the BNS gives the power to commute the sentence. It allows the appropriate government to commute any punishment without the consent of the offender to any other offence. It means reducing the punishment in accordance with section 474 of Bharitya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023.

Section 474 of the BNSS, 2023 provides power to the appropriate government to reduce the sentence from a sentence of death to imprisonment for life. The sentence of imprisonment for life, for a imprisonment for a term not less than seven years and so on.

The appropriate government here can be either the Central Government or the State Government. The sentence should be related to matter to which the executive power extends.