Punjab Government Supports Consecutive Sentences in Multiple Murder Cases to Boost Faith in Justice System

PothikTV News Desk: 19 October 2026, 9:35 am

ISLAMABAD — The Punjab government has informed the Supreme Court of Pakistan that it supports imposing consecutive sentences in grave and heinous crimes, particularly cases involving multiple murders. The provincial government argued that adopting this legal approach would play a vital role in restoring public confidence in the nation’s criminal justice system.

The submission was made by Additional Prosecutor General Punjab Tariq Siddique in response to key questions before the apex court. The Supreme Court is examining whether sentences awarded to convicts involved in multiple murders should run consecutively or concurrently, and whether the severity of the offences must be weighed when making such judicial determinations.

In its written response, the Punjab prosecution stated that courts should not routinely order consecutive sentences in every single case. Instead, it argued that such orders ought to be issued through explicit, reasoned judicial decisions in exceptional cases that involve particularly brutal, inhuman, and heinous crimes.

The provincial government pointed out that because a life sentence has effectively been reduced to a substantive prison term of 15 years, courts must avoid a mechanical or casual approach when deciding whether sentences run concurrently. The response warned that a routine concurrent sentencing approach risks severely eroding public trust in the administration of justice.

According to the government’s argument, a convict who has committed multiple murders should not automatically receive the benefit of release after serving only 15 years in prison. Routinely allowing sentences to run concurrently risks sending a message that the legal system makes little distinction between killing one person and murdering multiple victims.

Citing the principle of proportionality, the Punjab government maintained that when multiple lives are unlawfully taken, each distinct offence deserves an independent penal consequence. Merging every sentence into a single concurrent term dilutes the gravity of additional crimes and creates an artificial legal equivalence between taking one life and taking several.

The prosecution further noted that allowing sentences to run concurrently in such cases effectively conveys that a person convicted of a single murder and another convicted of multiple killings could be released after serving the exact same duration in custody.

Referring to broader legislative intent regarding heinous crimes, the response highlighted that lawmakers have long recognized the need for special measures in grave offences. It referenced statutory restrictions on the grant of remissions to certain convicts under the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1997 and the Control of Narcotic Substances Act of 1997 as clear examples of this legislative policy.

The Punjab government also cited Section 4 of the Punjab Sentencing Act, 2019, emphasizing that the primary goals of sentencing are to punish offenders, reduce crime through deterrence, reform and rehabilitate convicts, and protect the general public.

The response reiterated that consecutive sentences should be reserved for exceptional circumstances where offences are committed in a brutal, morbid, or inhuman manner that shocks the public conscience. Specific examples cited include cases of homicide, kidnapping and abduction, sexual abuse, and terrorism.

Ultimately, the Punjab prosecution concluded that ordering consecutive sentences in grave, sensational, and inhuman crimes against the human body will help maintain social equilibrium while fulfilling the essential retributive and deterrent objectives of criminal punishment.