New Delhi, Sept. 24 -- In a significant verdict, the Supreme Court on Thursday held that a sessions court, while convicting an accused for murder, cannot direct that the convict will remain in prison for the remainder of the natural life.

The verdict dealt with a vexatious legal question as to whether a trial court, while awarding the life imprisonment to a convict in a murder case under section 302 of the IPC, can hand down the sentence specifying that the convict will remain in jail for remainder of his life without the benefits of statutory regime of remission and commutation.

A bench comprising Justices Aravind Kumar and Vipul M Pancholi, referring to verdicts, said, "Although life imprisonment denotes imprisonment for the remainder...