New Delhi, Aug. 26: A life sentence will mean just 14 years if petitions by a group of convicts in Bengal succeed in the Supreme Court.

The question “what is the length of a life sentence” has puzzled lawyers, tormented lifers and divided the apex court for years. In the absence of a definitive answer, the conflicting opinions of different benches have variously decided the fate of convicts.

The petitions by the life convicts from Bengal seek immediate release on the ground that each has already spent 14 years in jail.

Their counsel, Sanjay Sharawat, told the two-judge bench yesterday that if necessary, the matter should be referred to a larger Constitution bench so that the confusing issue can be settled once and for all.

“The fundamental human rights of these convicts? (are) at stake,” he said.

Till the eighties, several apex court judgments had held that a life convict could be freed after 14 years, depending on his conduct in jail. Gradually, the view gained ground that a life sentence “means” a 14-year term.

However, about 20 years ago, a Supreme Court bench ruled that “life means life” and life convicts must be in jail till they die. Yet, many benches have since then allowed lifers to be freed after 14 years in prison.

Sharawat argued that his clients should be freed first and the vexed question settled later.

“As the law holds today, life imprisonment is for 14 years... so these convicts in West Bengal languishing in jail for more than 20 years now should be first released,” he said.

“If the apex court felt that the law should be settled by a larger bench, the matter for determining the only question of term of life sentence, whether 14 years or 20 years or entire life, should be referred to a Constitution bench,” the lawyer said.

If these life convicts from Bengal win the case, the judgment would set a precedent and all current and future lifers in the country would have to serve only a 14-year sentence, Sharawat said.

Such a verdict would also fix a 14-year ceiling for jail sentences, unlike many foreign countries where longer terms are allowed. Even now, however, Indian law doesn’t provide for jail sentences longer than 14 years.

The Bengal lifers’ petitions have been filed under the writ of habeas corpus, which means “produce the body”, as they could be presumed to have been “illegally detained”. The petitions are being heard by different benches on separate dates. Nishad Ghosh’s comes up on Monday.

Among fellow petitioners are Ram Samuj Prasad, Jarnail Singh, Samir Ojha and Kailash Chand Gupta. All have been convicted of murder.

Senior jail officials in Calcutta said that 19 life convicts from Behrampore central jail, Murshidabad, had petitioned the Supreme Court last year demanding release for those who have completed 14 years in jail.

“There is a provision to review the cases of life convicts after 14 years on the basis of their conduct during the period of confinement,” said Joydeb Chakraborty, inspector-general of prisons. “But we are not bound to release a life convict after 14 years; for a life term, according to the jail code, means one must be in jail for the whole of one’s life.”

The state government’s counsel, Tara Chandra Sharma, has sought four weeks to file a reply to the bench of Justices Y.K. Sabharwal and C.K. Thakker.