Under Section 104 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, why does the statute prescribe the alternative…

In Mithu v. State of Punjab (1983), the Supreme Court held that a mandatory death sentence for murder committed by a person under a sentence of life imprisonment (formerly under Section 303 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860) violated Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution because it excluded judicial sentencing discretion. Accordingly, Section 104 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 provides death OR imprisonment for life (which shall mean the remainder of that person's natural life), ensuring that the court retains sentencing discretion while distinguishing the alternative sentence from ordinary remissible life imprisonment. Capital punishment remains available under Section 4(a) and Chapter VI, and murder by a life-convict is not reduced to culpable homicide not amounting to murder.