Section 474. Power to suspend or remit sentences.

(1) When any person has been sentenced to punishment for an offence, the
appropriate Government may, at any time, without conditions or upon any conditions which
the person sentenced accepts, suspend the execution of his sentence or remit the whole or
any part of the punishment to which he has been sentenced.
(2) Whenever an application is made to the appropriate Government for the suspension
or remission of a sentence, the appropriate Government may require the presiding Judge of
the Court before or by which the conviction was had or confirmed, to state his opinion as to
whether the application should be granted or refused, together with his reasons for such
opinion and also to forward with the statement of such opinion a certified copy of the
record of the trial or of such record thereof as exists.
(3) If any condition on which a sentence has been suspended or remitted is, in the
opinion of the appropriate Government, not fulfilled, the appropriate Government may cancel
the suspension or remission, and thereupon the person in whose favour the sentence has
been suspended or remitted may, if at large, be arrested by any police officer, without
warrant and remanded to undergo the unexpired portion of the sentence.
(4) The condition on which a sentence is suspended or remitted under this section
may be one to be fulfilled by the person in whose favour the sentence is suspended or
remitted, or one independent of his will.
(5) The appropriate Government may, by general rules or special orders, give directions
as to the suspension of sentences and the conditions on which petitions should be presented
and dealt with:
Provided that in the case of any sentence (other than a sentence of fine) passed on a
person above the age of eighteen years, no such petition by the person sentenced or by
any other person on his behalf shall be entertained, unless the person sentenced is in jail,
and—
(a) where such petition is made by the person sentenced, it is presented through
the officer in charge of the jail; or
(b) where such petition is made by any other person, it contains a declaration
that the person sentenced is in jail.
(6) The provisions of the above sub-sections shall also apply to any order passed by
a Criminal Court under any section of this Sanhita or of any other law, which restricts the
liberty of any person or imposes any liability upon him or his property.
(7) In this section and in section 475, the expression “appropriate Government”
means,—
(a) in cases where the sentence is for an offence against, or the order referred to
in sub-section (6) is passed under, any law relating to a matter to which the executive
power of the Union extends, the Central Government;
(b) in other cases, the Government of the State within which the offender is
sentenced or the said order is passed.