Penal Code, 1860 – ss. 366, 376 and 302 – Power to impose modified punishment – Appellant convicted u/ss. 366, 376 and 302 IPC – Trial Court sentenced the appellant to undergo rigorous imprisonment for the rest of his life – High Court dismissed the appeal preferred by the appellant challenging the conviction and sentence – In appeal before the Supreme Court, appellant contended that in view of the law laid down by the Constitutional Bench in the case of Union of India v. V. Sriharan alias Murugan & Ors., a modified sentence can be imposed only by the Constitutional Courts and not by the Sessions Courts – Held: The Constitution Bench in the case of V. Sriharan case held that power to impose a modified punishment of providing any specific term of incarceration or till the end of convict’s life as an alternative to death penalty, can be exercised only by the High Court and the Supreme Court and not by any other inferior Court – Trial Court could not have directed that the appellant shall not be released till the rest of his life – Even in a case where capital punishment is not imposed, the Constitutional Courts can always exercise the power of imposing a modified or fixed-term sentence by directing that a life sentence shall be of a fixed period of more than fourteen years – In the given circumstances of the case, a fixed-term sentence for a period of thirty years imposed.