NEW DELHI: Supreme Court Tuesday held that a convict sentenced to life imprisonment for a fixed term like 20 years is entitled to be released from jail after completing the term and there was no need for him to seek remission of sentence to be free, which is needed in case of simple life imprisonment.A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and K V Viswanathan rejected a petition that a convict, even if serving a fixed term, could come out of jail only when his plea for remission of sentence was allowed by govt. The court, which had on July 29 directed release of Sukhdev Pehalwan in the Nitish Katara case, as he had already completed 20 years imprisonment in March, passed a reasoned judgment in the case.“We hold that in all cases where an accused/convict has completed his period of jail term, he shall be entitled to be released forthwith and not continued in imprisonment if not wanted in any other case. We say so in light of Article 21 of the Constitution, which states that no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law,” the bench saidTaking note that many convicts have completed their sentences and are languishing in jail,it directed the order’s copy be circulated by SC registry to all home secretaries to ascertain whether any accused/convict has remained in jail beyond the period of sentence.