Section 512: Reduction of punishment

When a person is convicted of attempting to commit an offence, if it is proved that he
desisted of his own motion from the further prosecution of his intention, without its
fulfilment being prevented by circumstances independent of will, he is liable to one
half only of the punishment of which he would otherwise be liable. If that punishment
is imprisonment for life, the greatest punishment to which he is liable is imprisonment
for seven years.