(1) This Act may be called the Indian Navy (Discipline) Act, 1934.

(2) It shall come into force on such date4 as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, appoint.

5[* * *]

ARTICLES OF WAR

Public worship

6[1-A. Facilities for the performance of religious duties. All officers in command of ships of the Indian Navy shall] give reasonable facilities for the performance of religious duties by the officers and members of the crews of their respective ships to each man according to his religion.

Every flag officer, captain, commander or officer commanding subject to this Act who upon signal of battle, or on sight of a ship of an enemy which it may be his duty to engage shall not,

(1) use his utmost exertion to bring his ship into action;

(2) or shall not during such action, in his own person and according to his rank, encourage his inferior officers and men to fight courageously;

(3) or who shall surrender his ship to the enemy when capable of making a successful defence, or who in time of action shall improperly withdraw from the fight;

shall, if he has acted traitorously, suffer death; if he has acted from cowardice, shall suffer death, or such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned; and if he has acted from negligence or through other default, he shall be dismissed from the Naval service with or without disgrace, or shall suffer such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

Every officer subject to this Act who shall forbear to pursue the chase of any enemy, pirate, or rebel, beaten or flying, or shall not relieve and assist a known friend in view to the utmost of his power, or who shall improperly forsake his station, shall, if he has therein acted traitorously, suffer death if he has acted from cowardice, suffer death or such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned; if he has acted from negligence or through other default, shall be dismissed from the Naval service, with disgrace, or shall suffer such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

When any action or any service is commanded, every person subject to this Act who shall presume to delay or discourage the said action or service upon any pretence whatsoever, or in the presence or vicinity of the enemy shall desert his post or sleep upon his watch, shall suffer death or such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

Every person subject to this Act, and not being a commanding officer, who shall not use his utmost exertions to carry the orders of his superior officers into execution when ordered to prepare for action, or during the action, shall, if he has acted traitorously, suffer death; if he has acted from cowardice, shall suffer death, or such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned; and if he has acted from negligence or through other default, be dismissed from the Naval service, with disgrace, or suffer such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

Communications with the enemy

All spies for the enemy shall be deemed to be persons subject to this Act, and shall suffer death or such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

Every person subject to this Act who shall

(1) traitorously hold correspondence with or shall give intelligence to the enemy;

(2) or fail to make known to the proper authorities any information he may have received from the enemy;

(3) or who shall relieve the enemy with any supplies,

shall suffer death, or such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

Every person subject to this Act who shall, without any treacherous intention, hold any improper communication with the enemy, shall be dismissed with disgrace from the Naval service, or shall suffer such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

Neglect of duty

Every person subject to this Act who shall desert his post or sleep upon his watch, or negligently perform the duty imposed on him, shall be dismissed from the Naval service, with disgrace, or shall suffer such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

Mutiny

Where mutiny is accompanied by violence, every person subject to this Act who shall join therein shall suffer death or such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned; and every person subject to this Act who shall not use his utmost exertions to suppress such mutiny shall, if he has acted traitorously, suffer death, or such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned; if he has acted from cowardice, shall suffer penal servitude or such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned; if he has acted from negligence, he shall be dismissed from the Naval service, with disgrace, or suffer such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

Where a mutiny is not accompanied by violence, the ringleader or ringleaders of such mutiny shall suffer death, or such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned; and all other persons who shall join in such mutiny, or shall not use their utmost exertions to suppress the same, shall suffer imprisonment or such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

Every person subject to this Act who shall endeavour to seduce any other person subject to this Act from his duty or allegiance to the Union, or endeavour to incite him to commit any act of mutiny, shall suffer death or such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

Every person, not otherwise subject to this Act, who, being on board any ship of the Indian Navy, shall endeavour to seduce from his duty or allegiance to the Union any person subject to this Act, shall so far as respects such offence be deemed to be a person subject to this Act, and shall suffer death or such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

Every person subject to this Act who shall make or endeavour to make any mutinous assembly, or shall lead or incite any other person to join in any mutinous assembly or shall utter any words of sedition or mutiny, shall suffer penal servitude or such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

Every person subject to this Act who shall wilfully conceal any traitorous or mutinous practice or design or any traitorous or mutinous words spoken against Government, or any words, practice, or design tending to the hinderance of the service, shall suffer penal servitude or such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

Every person subject to this Act who shall strike or attempt to strike, or draw or lift up any weapon against, or use or attempt to use any violence against, his superior officer whether or not such superior officer is in the execution of his office, shall be punished with penal servitude or such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

Insubordination

Every person subject to this Act who shall wilfully disobey any lawful command of his superior officer, or shall use threatening or insulting language, or behave with contempt to his superior officer, shall be punished with dismissal with disgrace from the Naval service, or suffer such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

Every person subject to this Act who shall quarrel or fight with any other person, whether such other person be or be not subject to this Act, or shall use reproachful or provoking speeches or gestures tending to make any quarrel or disturbance, shall suffer imprisonment or such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

Desertion and absence without leave

Every person subject to this Act who shall absent himself from his ship, or from the place where his duty requires him to be, with an intention of not returning to such ship or place, or who shall at any time and under any circumstances when absent from his ship or place of duty, do any act which shows that he has an intention of not returning to such ship or place, shall be deemed to have deserted, and shall be punished accordingly; that is to say,

(1) if he has deserted to the enemy, he shall be punished with death or such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned;

(2) if he has deserted under any other circumstances, he shall be punished with penal servitude or such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned;

and in every such case he shall forfeit all pay, head money, bounty, salvage, prize money, and allowances that have been earned by him and all annuities, pensions, gratuities, medals, and decorations that may have been granted to him, and also all clothes and effects which he may have left on board the ship or at the place from which he has deserted, unless the tribunal by which he is tried, or the Central Government, shall otherwise direct.

Every person subject to this Act who shall endeavour to seduce any other person subject to this Act to desert shall suffer imprisonment or such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

Every officer in command of any ship of the Indian Navy who shall receive or entertain any deserter from the Indian naval, military or air forces, after discovering him to be a deserter, and shall not with all convenient speed, in the case of a deserter from the Indian naval forces, give notice to the commanding officer of the ship to which such deserter belongs, or, if such ship is at a distance, to the Central Government, or to 7[the Chief of the Naval Staff], or, in case of a deserter from the Indian military or air forces, give notice to the Central Government, or the commanding officer of the regiment or unit to which such deserter belongs, the officer so offending shall be dismissed from the Naval service, or shall suffer such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

If any person subject to this Act (without being guilty of desertion) improperly leaves his ship or place of duty, he shall be liable to imprisonment or to such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned, and to such other punishment by forfeiture of wages or of other benefits as the Central Government from time to time by regulations prescribes.

Every person subject to this Act who (without being guilty of desertion or of improperly leaving his ship or place of duty) shall be absent without leave shall be liable in time of war to imprisonment or such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned, and at other times to imprisonment or detention for any period not exceeding ten weeks, or such other punishment as the circumstances of the case may require, and to such other punishment by forfeiture of wages or of other benefits as the Central Government from time to time by regulations prescribes.

If any person subject to this Act is absent without leave for a period of one month (whether he is guilty of desertion or of improperly leaving his ship or place of duty or not), but is not apprehended and tried for his offence, he shall be liable to forfeiture of wages and other benefits as the Central Government from time to time by regulations prescribes, and the Central Government may by an order containing a statement of the absence without leave direct that the clothes and effects (if any) left by him on board ship or at his place of duty be forfeited, and the same may be sold, and the proceeds of the sale shall be disposed of as the Central Government may direct; and every order under this provision for forfeiture or sale shall be conclusive as to the fact of the absence without leave as therein stated of the person therein named; but in any case the Central Government may, if it seems fit on sufficient cause being shown at any time after forfeiture and before sale, remit the forfeiture, or after sale pay or dispose of the proceeds of the sale or any part thereof to or for the use of the person to whom the clothes or effects belonged, or his representatives.

If any person not subject to this Act assists or procures any person subject to this Act to desert or improperly absent himself from his duty, or conceals, employs or continues to employ any person subject to this Act, who is a deserter or improperly absent from his duty, knowing him to be a deserter or so improperly absent, he shall for every such offence of assistance, procurement, concealment, employment or continuance of employment, be liable, on conviction in a summary trial before a Magistrate empowered under Section 260 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (5 of 1898), to a penalty not exceeding two hundred rupees; and every such penalty shall be applied as the Central Government directs.

If any person not subject to this Act by words or otherwise persuades any person subject to this Act to desert or improperly absent himself from his duty, he shall for every such offence be liable, on conviction in a summary trial before a Magistrate empowered under Section 260 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (5 of 1898), to a penalty not exceeding two hundred rupees; and every such penalty shall be applied as the Central Government directs.

Miscellaneous offences

Every person subject to this Act who shall be guilty of any profane oath, cursing, execration, drunkenness, uncleanness or other scandalous action in derogation of God's honour and corruption of good manners, shall be dismissed from the Naval service, with disgrace, or suffer such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

Every officer subject to this Act who shall be guilty of cruelty, or of any scandalous or fraudulent conduct, shall be dismissed with disgrace from the Naval service; and every officer subject to this Act who shall be guilty of any other conduct unbecoming the character of an officer shall be dismissed, with or without disgrace, from the Naval service.

Every person subject to this Act who shall either designedly or negligently or by any default lose, strand, or hazard or suffer to be lost, stranded, or hazarded, any ship of the Indian Navy or in the service of the Government or lose or suffer to be lost any aircraft of the Indian Navy or in the service of the Government, shall be dismissed from the Naval service, with disgrace, or suffer such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

The officers of all ships of the Indian Navy appointed for the convoy and protection of any ships or vessels shall diligently perform their duty without delay according to their instructions in that behalf; and every officer who shall fail in his duty in this respect, and shall not defend the ships and goods under his convoy, without deviation to any other objects, or shall refuse to fight in their defence if they are assailed, or shall cowardly abandon and expose the ships in his convoy to hazard, or shall demand or exact any money or other reward from any merchant or master for convoying any ships or vessels intrusted to his care, or shall misuse the masters or mariners thereof, shall make such reparation in damages to the merchants, owners, and others as the Court of Admiralty may adjudge, and also shall be punished criminally according to the nature of his offence, by death or such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

Every master or other officer in command of any merchant or other vessel under the convoy of any ship of the Indian Navy shall obey the commanding officer thereof in all matters relating to the navigation or security of the convoy; and shall take such precautions for avoiding the enemy as may be directed by such commanding officer, and if he shall fail to obey such directions such commanding officer may compel obedience by force of arms without being liable for any loss of life or of property that may result from his using such force.

Every officer in command of any ship of the Indian Navy who shall receive on board or permit to be received on board such ship any goods or merchandises whatsoever, other than for the sole use of the ship, except gold, silver, or jewels, and except goods and merchandise belonging to any merchant, or on board any ship which may be shipwrecked or in imminent danger, either on the high seas or in some port, creek, or harbour, for the purpose of preserving them for their proper owners, or except such goods or merchandise as he may at any time be ordered to take or receive on board by order of the Central Government or his superior officer, shall be dismissed from the Naval service, or suffer such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

Every person subject to this Act who shall wastefully expend, embezzle, or fraudulently buy, sell or receive any ammunition, provisions, or other public stores, and every person subject to this Act, who shall knowingly permit any such wasteful expenditure, embezzlement, sale, or receipt, shall suffer imprisonment or such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

Every person subject to this Act who shall unlawfully set fire to any dockyard, victualling yard or steam factory yard, arsenal, magazine, building, stores, or to any ship, vessel, hoy, barge, boat, or other craft or furniture thereunto belonging, not being the property of an enemy, pirate, or rebel, shall suffer death or such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

Every person subject to this Act who shall knowingly make or sign a false muster or record or other official document, or who shall command, counsel, or procure the making or signing thereof, or who shall aid or abet any other person in the making or signing thereof, shall be dismissed from the Naval service, with disgrace, or suffer such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

Every person subject to this Act who shall wilfully do any act or wilfully disobey any orders, whether in hospital or elsewhere, with intent to produce or to aggravate any disease or infirmity, or to delay his cure, or who shall feign any disease, infirmity, or inability to perform his duty, shall suffer imprisonment or such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

Every person subject to this Act who shall have any cause of complaint, either of the unwholesomeness of the victuals or upon any other just ground, shall quietly make the same known to his superior, or captain, or to 8[the Chief of the Naval Staff], and the said superior, captain, or officer, shall, as far as he is able, cause the same to be presently remedied; and no person subject to this Act upon any pretence whatever shall attempt to stir up any disturbance, upon pain of such punishment as a court-martial may think fit to inflict, according to the degree of offence.

All the papers, charter-parties, bills of lading, passports, and other writings, whatsoever that shall be taken, seized, or found aboard any ship or ships which shall be taken as prize shall be duly preserved, and the commanding officer of the ship which shall take such prize shall send the originals entire and without fraud to the Court of Admiralty, or such other court or commissioners as shall be authorised to determine whether such prize be lawful capture, there to be viewed, made use of, and proceeded upon according to law, upon pain that every person offending herein shall be dismissed from the Naval service, or shall suffer such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned, and in addition thereto shall forfeit and lose his share of the capture.

No person subject to this Act shall take out of any prize or ship seized for prize any money, plate, or goods, unless it shall be necessary for the better securing thereof, or for the necessary use and service of any of ships and vessels of war of the Indian Navy, before the same be adjudged lawful prize in some Admiralty Court; but the full and entire account of the whole without embezzlement shall be brought in and judgment passed entirely upon the whole, without fraud, upon pain that every person offending herein shall be dismissed from the Naval service, with disgrace, or suffer such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned, and in addition thereto forfeit and lose his share of the capture.

If any ship or vessel shall be taken as prize, none of the officers, mariners, or other persons on board her shall be stripped of their clothes, or in any sort pillaged, beaten, or evil intreated, upon pain that the person or persons so offending shall be dismissed from the Naval service, with disgrace, or suffer such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

If the commanding officer of any ship of the Indian Navy does any of the following things, namely,

(1) by collusion with the enemy takes as prize any vessel, goods, or things;

(2) unlawfully agrees with any person for the ransoming of any vessel, goods, or thing taken as prize; or

(3) in pursuance of any unlawful agreement for ransoming or otherwise by collusion actually quits or restores any vessel, goods, or thing taken as prize;

he shall be liable to dismissal from the Naval service, with disgrace, or to such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

If any person subject to this Act breaks bulk on board any vessel taken as prize, or detained in the exercise of any belligerent right, or under any Act relating to piracy or to the slave trade or to the Customs, with intent to embezzle anything therein or belonging thereto, he shall be liable to dismissal from the Naval service, with disgrace, or to such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned, and in addition thereto to forfeit and lose his share of the capture.

Every person subject to this Act who shall be guilty of any act, disorder, or neglect to the prejudice of good order and naval discipline, not hereinbefore specified, shall be dismissed from the Naval service, with disgrace, or suffer such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

Any person subject to this Act committing any offence against this Act, such offence not being punishable with death or penal servitude, shall, save where this Act expressly otherwise provides, be proceeded against and punished according to the laws and customs in such cases used at sea.

Offences punishable by ordinary law

Every person subject to this Act who shall be guilty of an offence punishable under Section 302, 304, 304-A, 377, 377 read with 511, 379, 380, 381, 382, or 392 of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860), shall be punishable with the punishment provided in that Code for the offence 9[or, except in the case of an offence punishable under the said Section 302 or 377, with such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned].

If any such person shall be guilty of any other criminal offence which if committed in 10[India] would be punishable by the law of India, he shall, whether the offence be or be not committed in India, be punished either in pursuance of the first Part of this Act as for an act to the prejudice of good order and naval discipline not otherwise specified, or the offender shall be subject to the same punishment as might for the time being be awarded by any ordinary criminal tribunal competent to try the offender if the offence had been committed in India.

For all offences specified or referred to in this Act, if committed by any person subject thereto in any harbour, haven, or creek, or on any lake or river, whether in or out of India, or anywhere within the jurisdiction of the Admiralty, or at any place on shore out of India or in any of 11[the dockyards], victualling yards, steam factory yards 12[belonging to Government], or on any gun wharf, or in any arsenal, barrack, or hospital belonging to Government or in any other premises held by or on behalf of the Government for naval or military purposes, or in any canteen or sailors' home or any place of recreation placed at the disposal of or used by officers or men of the Indian Navy which may be prescribed by the Central Government, whether in or out of India, the offender may be tried and punished under this Act; and for all offences hereinbefore specified under the headings misconduct in the presence of the enemy , communications with the enemy , neglect of duty , mutiny , insubordination , desertion and absence without leave , or miscellaneous offences , if committed by any person subject to this Act at any place on shore, whether in or out of India, the offender may be tried and punished under this Act.

46-A. Provisions where offender has ceased to be subject to the Act. (1) Where an offence under this Act has been committed by any person while subject to this Act, such person may be taken into and kept in custody and tried and punished for such offence although he has ceased to be subject to this Act in like manner as he might have been taken into and kept in custody, tried, or punished if he had continued so subject:

Provided that where a person has since the commission of an offence ceased to be subject to this Act, he shall not be tried for such offence, except in case of offences of mutiny or desertion, unless proceedings against him are instituted within three months after he has ceased to be subject to this Act, but this section shall not affect the jurisdiction of a civil court in the case of any offence triable by such court as well as by court-martial.

(2) Where a person subject to this Act is sentenced under this Act to penal servitude, imprisonment, or detention, this Act shall apply to him during the term of his sentence notwithstanding that he is discharged or dismissed from the Naval service, or has otherwise ceased to be subject to this Act, and he may be kept in custody, removed, imprisoned, made to undergo detention and punished accordingly, as if he had continued to be subject to this Act.

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Where the amount of punishment for any offence under this Act depends upon the intent with which it has been committed, and any person is charged with having committed such offence with an intent involving a greater degree of punishment, a court-martial may find that the offence was committed with an intent involving a less degree of punishment, and award such punishment accordingly.

Where any person shall be charged with any offence under this Act he may, upon failure of proof of the commission of the greater offence, be found guilty of another offence of the same class involving a less degree of punishment, but not of any offence involving a greater degree of punishment.

All armed rebels, armed mutineers, and pirates shall be deemed to be enemies within the meaning of this Act.

Every officer in command of a fleet, squadron or ship of the Indian Navy, or the senior officer present at a port, or an officer having by virtue of sub-section (3) of section fifty-six of this Act power to try offences, may, by warrant under his hand, authorise any person to arrest any offender subject to this Act for any offence against this Act mentioned in such warrant; and any such warrant may include the names of more persons than one in respect of several offences of the same nature; and any person named in any such warrant may forthwith, on his apprehension, if the warrant so directs, be taken on board the ship to which he belongs, or some other ship of the Indian Navy; and any person so authorised may use force, if necessary, for the purpose of effecting such apprehension, towards any person subject to this Act.

Every person subject to this Act who shall not use his utmost endeavours to detect, apprehend and bring to punishment all offenders against this Act, and shall not assist the officers appointed for that purpose, shall suffer imprisonment or such other punishment as is hereinafter mentioned.

REGULATIONS AS TO PUNISHMENTS

The following punishments may be inflicted in the Indian Navy:

(1) Death:

(2) Penal servitude:

(3) Dismissal with disgrace from the Naval service:

(4) Imprisonment or corporal punishment:

(4-A) Detention:

(5) Dismissal from the Naval service:

(6) Forfeiture of seniority as an officer for a specified time, or otherwise:

(7) Dismissal from the ship to which the offender belongs:

(8) Severe reprimand, or reprimand:

(9) Disrating a subordinate or petty officer:

(10) Forfeiture of pay, head money, bounty, salvage, prize money and allowances earned by, and of all annuities, pensions, gratuities, medals, and decorations granted to, the offender, or of any one or more of the above particulars; also, in the case of desertion, of all clothes and effects left by the deserter on board the ship to which he belongs:

(11) Such minor punishments as are now inflicted according to the custom of the navy, or may from time to time be allowed by the Central Government:

And each of the above punishments shall be deemed to be inferior in degree to every punishment preceding it in the above scale.

The following regulations are hereby made with respect to the infliction of punishments in the Indian Navy:

(1) The powers to suspend, remit or commute sentences of punishment shall be the powers conferred by and shall be exercised in accordance with the provisions of Sections 401 and 402 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (5 of 1898), save that such powers 13[shall be exercisable by the Central Government and not by the State Government]; and any sentence so modified shall (subject to the provisions of this Act) be valid, and shall be carried into execution, as if it had been originally passed, with such modification, by the court-martial; but so that neither the degree nor the duration of the punishment involved in any sentence be increased by any such modification:

(2) Judgment of death shall not be passed on any prisoner unless four at least of the officers present at the court-martial, where the number does not exceed five, and in other cases a majority of not less than two-thirds of the officers present, concur in the sentence:

(3) Except in case of mutiny, the punishment of death shall not be inflicted on any prisoner until the sentence has been confirmed by the Central Government:

(4) The punishment of penal servitude may be inflicted for the term of life or for any other term of not less than three years:

(5) The punishment of penal servitude shall in all cases involve dismissal with disgrace from the Naval service:

(6) A sentence of dismissal with disgrace shall involve in all cases a forfeiture of all pay, head money, bounty, salvage, prize money and allowances that have been earned by, and of all annuities, pensions, gratuities, medals, and decorations that may have been granted to the offender, and an incapacity to serve Government again in any military, naval, air force, or civil service, and may also in all cases be accompanied by a sentence of imprisonment:

(7) The punishment of imprisonment 14[shall, except as provided in Section 45, be limited to a term] not exceeding two years and may be accompanied with a sentence of dismissal from the Naval service:

(8) A sentence of imprisonment may be accompanied with a direction that the prisoner shall be kept in solitary confinement for any period of such term not exceeding fourteen days at any one time, and not exceeding eighty-four days in any one year, with intervals between the periods of solitary confinement of not less duration than the periods of solitary confinement; and when the imprisonment awarded exceeds eighty-four days, the solitary confinement shall not exceed seven days in any twenty-eight days of the whole imprisonment awarded, with intervals between the periods of solitary confinement of not less duration than such periods:

(9) A sentence of imprisonment may be rigorous or simple, or partly rigorous and partly simple, and corporal punishment may be awarded in addition to any sentence of imprisonment, whether such imprisonment is or is not to be accompanied with solitary confinement 15[* * *]

(9-A) The punishment of detention may be inflicted for any term not exceeding two years:

Provided that, until naval detention quarters shall have been set apart and declared to be such by the Central Government by notification in the Official Gazette, no sentence of detention shall be awarded:

(10) The punishment of imprisonment, or detention whether on board ship or on shore, shall involve disrating in case of a petty officer and reduction to the ranks in case of a non-commissioned officer of marines, and shall in all cases be accompanied by stoppage of pay or wages during the term of imprisonment or detention: provided that where the punishment awarded is detention for a term not exceeding fourteen days, the sentence may direct that the punishment shall not be accompanied by stoppage of pay or wages during the term of detention:

(11) In any case of corporal punishment not more than forty-eight lashes shall be inflicted; no officer shall be subject to detention or to corporal punishment: no petty or non-commissioned officer shall be subject to corporal punishment except in case of mutiny.

All other punishments authorised by this Act may be inflicted in the manner heretofore in use in the navy.

53-A. Substitution of imprisonment for penal servitude in certain cases. (1) Where a person 16[* * *] is sentenced to penal servitude, the authority sentencing him shall record such sentence and the term thereof and at the same time shall record an order substituting for such sentence a sentence of transportation which may be for life, or of rigorous imprisonment not exceeding fourteen years.

(2) For the purposes of this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context, penal servitude includes transportation or rigorous imprisonment substituted for penal servitude in accordance with this section.

No person, unless he be an offender who has avoided apprehension or fled from justice, shall be tried or punished in pursuance of this Act for any offence committed by him unless such trial shall take place within three years from the commission of such offence or within one year after the return of such offender to India, where he has been absent from India during such period of three years.

Subject to the foregoing regulations, where any punishment is specified by this Act as the penalty for any offence, and it is further declared that another punishment may be awarded in respect of the same offence, the expression other punishment shall be deemed to comprise any one or more of the punishments inferior in degree to the specified punishment, according to the scale hereinbefore mentioned; but 17[transportation shall be deemed equal in degree to penal servitude, and corporal punishment shall be deemed equal in degree to imprisonment and] may in all cases, subject to the foregoing regulations, be inflicted as a substitute for or in addition to imprisonment.

(1) Any offence triable under this Act may be tried and punished by court-martial.

(2) Any offence not capital which is triable under this Act, and (except in the cases by this Act expressly provided for) is not committed by an officer, may, under such regulations as the Central Government from time to time issues, be summarily tried and punished by the officer in command of the ship to which the offender belongs at the time either of the commission or of the trial of the offence, subject to the restriction that the commanding officer shall not have power to award penal servitude or to award imprisonment or detention for more than three months.

(3) The power by this section vested in an officer commanding a ship may,

(a) as respects persons on board a tender to the ship, be exercised in the case of a single tender absent from the ship, by the officer in command of such tender, and in the case of two or more tenders absent from the ship in company or acting together by the officer in immediate command of such tenders; and

(b) as respects persons, on board any boat or boats belonging to the ship, be exercised when such boat or boats is or are absent on detached service, by the officer in command of the boat or boats; and

(c) as respects persons subject to this Act on detached service either on shore or otherwise, 18[* * *] be exercised by the officer in immediate command of those persons; and

(d) as respects persons subject to this Act quartered in naval barracks be exercised by the officer in command of those barracks.

(4) Except in case of mutiny, no man shall be sentenced by the commanding officer to corporal punishment until his offence has been inquired into by one or more officers appointed by such commanding officer, and his or their opinion as to the guilt or innocence of the person charged reported to such commanding officer, and the commanding officer shall thereupon act as according to his judgment may seem right.

The Central Government may impose the punishment of forfeiture of time or seniority of not more than twelve months on any subordinate officer.

57-A. Trial of officers for disciplinary offences in time of war. (1) Where any officer borne, on the books of any ship of the Indian Navy in commission is in time of war alleged to have been guilty of a disciplinary offence, that is to say, a breach of Section 19[nine], seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-seven, or forty-three of this Act, the officer having power to order a court-martial may, if he considers that the offence is of such a character as not to necessitate trial by court-martial, in lieu of ordering a court-martial order a disciplinary court constituted as hereinafter mentioned.

(2) A disciplinary court shall be composed of not less than three nor more than five officers, of whom one shall be a commander or of higher rank.

(3) A disciplinary court shall have power to impose any punishment inferior to detention in the scale hereinbefore contained, but no greater punishment.

(4) The Central Government may from time to time frame general orders for regulating the assembling, constitution and procedure and practice of disciplinary courts under this section, and may by those regulations apply, with the necessary modifications, to disciplinary courts the provisions of Sections sixty-two to sixty-four and Sections sixty-six to sixty-nine of this Act relating to courts-martial, and the regulations shall provide for evidence being taken on oath and empower the court to administer oaths for that purpose.

COURTS-MARTIAL

Constitution of courts-martial

The following regulations are hereby made with respect to courts-martial:

(1) A court-martial shall consist of not less than five nor more than nine officers:

(2) No officer shall be qualified to sit as a member of any court-martial held in pursuance of this Act unless he be a flag officer, captain, commander, lieutenant-commander, or lieutenant of the Indian Navy on full pay:

(3) A court-martial shall not be held unless at least two ships of the Indian Navy, not being tenders, and commanded by captains, commanders, lieutenant-commanders, or lieutenants of the Indian Navy on full pay, are together at the time when such court-martial is held:

(4) No officer shall sit on a court-martial who is under twenty-one years of age:

(5) No court-martial for the trial of a flag officer shall be duly constituted unless the president is a flag officer, and the other officers composing the court are of the rank of captain, or of higher rank:

(6) No court-martial for the trial of a captain in the Indian Navy shall be duly constituted unless the president is a captain or of higher rank, and the other officers composing the court are commanders or officers of higher rank:

(7) No court-martial for the trial of a person below the rank of captain in the Indian Navy shall be duly constituted unless 20[the president is a substantive or acting commander] or of higher rank, nor, if the person to be tried is of the rank of commander, unless in addition to the president two other members of the court are of the rank of commander or of higher rank:

(8) The prosecutor shall not sit on any court-martial for the trial of a person whom he prosecutes:

(9) The Central Government shall have power to order courts-martial to be held for the trial of offences under this Act, and to grant commissions to any officer of the Indian Navy on full pay authorising him to order courts-martial to be held for the trial of such offences:

(10) An officer holding a commission from the Central Government to order courts-martial shall not be empowered to do so if there is present at the place where such court-martial is to be held any officer superior in rank to himself on full pay and in command of one or more of the ships or vessels of the Indian Navy, although such last-mentioned officer may not hold a commission to order courts-martial; and in such a case such last-mentioned officer may order a court-martial, although he does not hold any commission for the purpose:

(11) If any officer holding a commission from the Central Government to order courts-martial, having the command of a fleet or squadron, and being in foreign parts, die, be recalled, leave his station, or be removed from his command, the officer upon whom the command of the fleet or squadron devolves, and so from time to time the officer who shall have the command of the fleet or squadron, shall, without any commission from the Central Government, have the same power to order courts-martial as the first-mentioned officer was invested with:

(12) If any officer holding a commission from the Central Government to order courts-martial, and having the command of any fleet or squadron of the Indian Navy in foreign parts shall detach any part of such fleet or squadron, or separate himself from any part of such fleet or squadron, he may, by commission under his hand empower, in the first-mentioned case, the commanding officer of the squadron or detachment ordered on such separate service, and in case of his death or ceasing so to command, the officer to whom the command of such separate squadron or detachment shall belong, and in the secondly-mentioned case the senior officer of the Indian Navy on the division of the station from which he is absent, to order courts-martial during the time of such separate service, or during his absence from that division of the station (as the case may be), and every such authority shall continue in force until revoked, or until the officer holding it returns to India, or until he comes into the presence of a superior officer, empowered to order courts-martial in the same squadron, detachment, or division of a station, but so that such authority shall revive on the officer holding it ceasing to be in the presence of such a superior officer, and so from time to time as often as the case so requires:

(13) The officer ordering a court-martial shall not sit thereon:

(14) The president of every court-martial shall be named by the authority ordering the same, or by any officer empowered by such authority to name the president:

(15) No commander, lieutenant-commander, or lieutenant shall be required to sit as a member of any court-martial when four officers of a higher rank and junior to the president can be assembled at the place where the court-martial is to be holden (but the regularity or validity of any court-martial or of the proceedings thereof shall not be affected by any commander, lieutenant-commander, or lieutenant being required to sit, or sitting, thereon, under any circumstances); and when any commander, lieutenant-commander or lieutenant sits on any court-martial the members of it shall not exceed five in number:

(16) Subject to the foregoing regulations, whenever a court-martial shall be held the officer appointed to preside thereat shall summon all the officers next in seniority to himself present at the place where the court-martial shall be held to sit thereon, until the number of nine, or such number, not less than five, as is attainable, is complete; subject to this proviso, that the admirals and captains being superintendents of Government dockyards shall not be summoned to sit on courts-martial unless specially directed to do so by orders from the Central Government.

21[(17) References in the foregoing regulations to officers of the Indian Navy include officers of the Royal Navy who are attached to, or serving with, the Indian Navy.]

Proceedings of courts-martial

A court-martial under this Act shall be held on board a ship or vessel of war of the Indian Navy, unless the Central Government or the officer who ordered the court-martial in any particular case for reasons to be recorded on the proceedings otherwise direct, in which case the court-martial shall be held at a port at such convenient place on shore as the Central Government or the officer who ordered the court-martial shall direct.

A court-martial held in pursuance of this Act may, if it appears to the court that an adjournment is desirable, be adjourned for a period not exceeding six days, but except where such an adjournment is ordered shall sit from day to day, with the exception of Sundays, until sentence is given, unless prevented from so doing by stress of weather or unavoidable accident and its proceedings shall not be delayed by the absence of any member, so that not less than four are present; and no member shall absent himself unless compelled so to do by sickness or other just cause, to be approved of by the other members of the court, and if any member of a court-martial shall absent himself therefrom, in contravention of this section, he shall be dismissed from the Naval service, or shall suffer such other punishment as may be awarded by a court-martial.

In the absence of the judge advocate of the fleet or his deputy, and in default of any appointment in this behalf by the Central Government or by 22[the Chief of the Naval Staff], the officer who is to be the president of the court-martial shall appoint a person to officiate as deputy judge advocate at the trial; and the judge advocate of the fleet for the time being, or his deputy, or the person officiating as deputy judge advocate at any trial shall administer an oath to every witness appearing at the trial.

As soon as the court is assembled, the names of the officers composing the court shall be read over to the person charged, who shall be asked if he objects to being tried by any member of the court; if the person charged shall object to any member, the objection shall be decided by the court; if the objection shall be allowed, the place of the member objected to shall be filled up by the officer next in seniority who is not on the court-martial subject to the regulations hereinbefore contained.

The person charged may then raise any other objection which he desires to make respecting the constitution of the court-martial, and the objection shall then be decided by the court, which decision shall be final, and the constitution of the court-martial shall not be afterwards impeached, and it shall be deemed to have been in all respects duly constituted.

Before the court shall proceed to try the person charged, the judge advocate of the fleet, or his deputy, or the person officiating as deputy judge advocate of the fleet, shall administer to every member of the court the following oath; that is to say,

I do swear that I will duly administer justice according to law, without partiality, favour, or affection; and I do further swear that I will not on any account, at any time whatsoever, disclose or discover the vote or opinion of any particular member of this court-martial, unless thereunto required in due course of law.

So help me God. :

Provided that an affirmation to the same effect in such terms as the Central Government may prescribe in this behalf may be substituted for such oath.

As soon as the said oath shall be administered to the members of the court-martial, the president shall administer to the judge advocate of the fleet, or his deputy, or the person officiating as deputy judge advocate, the following oath:

I do swear that I will not upon any account, at any time whatsoever, disclose or discover the vote or opinion of any particular member of the court-martial, unless thereunto required in due course of law.

So help me God.':

Provided that an affirmation to the same effect in such terms as the Central Government may prescribe in this behalf may be substituted for such oath.

23[(1) The Central Government may from time to time frame general orders for altering and regulating the procedure and practice of courts-martial under this Act.

(2) All general orders regulating the procedure and practice of courts-martial under this Act in force before the commencement of the Constitution shall be deemed to have been framed under this Act.]

Every person, civil, naval, and military, or belonging to the air force, who may be required to give evidence before a court-martial shall be summoned by writing under the hand of a Secretary to the Central Government, or by the deputy judge advocate, or the person appointed to officiate as deputy judge advocate at the trial; and all persons so summoned and attending as witnesses before any court-martial shall, during their necessary attendance in or on such court, and in going to and returning from the same, be privileged from arrest, and shall, if unduly arrested, be discharged by the court out of which the writ or process issued by which such witness was arrested, or if such court be not sitting, 24[then by any other court competent to exercise the jurisdiction of such court], upon its being made to appear to 25[such court], by any affidavit in a summary way, that such witness was arrested in going to or returning from or attending upon such court-martial; and all witnesses so duly summoned as aforesaid who make default in attending on such courts or attending refuse to be sworn or make affirmation, or being sworn or having made affirmation refuse to give evidence or to answer all such questions as the court may legally demand of them, or prevaricate in giving their evidence shall, upon certificate thereof under the hand of the president of such court-martial, be 26[liable to be proceeded against in a civil court], respectively upon complaint made, in like manner as if such witness after having been duly summoned and subpaenaed had neglected to attend on a trial in any proceeding in the court in which such complaint is made, or had refused to be sworn, or on being sworn had refused to give evidence, or to answer all such questions as the court may legally demand, or had prevaricated in giving evidence, or, if the court-martial shall think fit, in case any such person, who is subject to this Act, being called upon to give evidence at any court-martial, shall refuse or neglect to attend to give his evidence upon oath or affirmation, or shall prevaricate in his evidence, or behave with contempt to the court, such court-martial may punish every such offender by imprisonment, or, if the offender is a person liable to be sentenced to detention under this Act, by detention not longer than three months in case of such refusal, neglect, or prevarication, nor longer than one month in the case of such contempt; and every person not subject to this Act who may be so summoned to attend shall be allowed and paid his reasonable expenses for such attendance, under the authority of the Central Government, or of the president of the court-martial on a foreign station.

Every person who, upon any examination upon oath or upon affirmation before any court-martial held in pursuance of this Act, shall make any statement which is false and which he either knows or believes to be false, or does not believe to be true, shall be deemed to have committed the offence of giving false evidence; and every such offence, wheresoever committed, shall be triable and punishable in 27[India].

Where it shall appear upon the trial by court-martial of any person charged with an offence that such person is insane, the court shall find specially the fact of his insanity, and shall order such person to be kept in strict custody in such place and in such manner as the court shall deem fit until the directions of the Central Government thereupon are known, and it shall be lawful for the Central Government to give orders for the safe custody of such person 28[* * *] in such place and in such manner as it shall think fit.

Every judge advocate, or deputy judge advocate, or person officiating as deputy judge advocate, shall transmit with as much expedition as may be the original proceedings, or a complete and authenticated copy thereof and the original sentence of every court-martial attended by him, to 29[the Chief of the Naval Staff] or senior officer, who shall transmit them to the Central Government for the time being; and any person tried by a court-martial shall be entitled, on demand, to a copy of such proceedings and sentence (upon payment for the same at the rate of three annas per folio of seventy-two words), but no such demand shall be allowed after the space of three years from the date of the final decision of such court.

69-A. Evidence of rank, etc., of officers. A Navy List or Gazette purporting to be published 30[by the authority of the Central Government], shall be evidence of the status and rank of the officers therein mentioned and of any appointment held by such officers until the contrary is proved.

PENAL SERVITUDE AND PRISONS

Penal servitude

Where a person is in pursuance of this Act convicted by a court-martial, and either is sentenced or has his sentence commuted to penal servitude, such conviction and sentence shall be of the same effect as if such person had been convicted by a civil court in 31[India] of an offence punishable by penal servitude and sentenced by that court to penal servitude, and all enactments relating to a convict so sentenced shall, so far as circumstances admit, apply accordingly; and the said convict shall be removed to some prison in which a convict so sentenced by a civil court in 32[India] can be confined either permanently or temporarily, and the order of the Central Government or of 33[the Chief of the Naval Staff], or of the officer ordering the court-martial by whom such person was convicted, shall be a sufficient warrant for the transfer of the said person to such prison to undergo his sentence according to law, and until he reaches such prison for detaining him in naval custody, or in any civil prison or place of confinement.

71. [* * *]

In case any such offender shall be conveyed to any prison, not being a naval prison appointed by virtue of this Act, an allowance such as the Central Government shall from time to time direct shall be made to the governor, keeper, or superintendent of the gaol or prison for the subsistence of such offender while he is detained therein, and such allowance shall be paid by order of the Central Government upon production by the said governor, keeper, or superintendent of a declaration, to be made by him before a Magistrate, of the number of days during which the offender has been so detained and subsisted in such gaol or prison.

Whenever sentence shall be passed by a court-martial on an offender already under sentence either of detention, imprisonment, or penal servitude, passed upon him under this Act for a former offence, the court may award sentence of detention, imprisonment, or penal servitude for the offence for which he is under trial to commence at the expiration of the detention, imprisonment, or penal servitude to which he has been previously sentenced, although the aggregate of the terms of detention, imprisonment, or penal servitude may exceed the term for which any of those punishments could be otherwise awarded:

Provided that nothing in this section shall cause a person to undergo imprisonment or detention for any period exceeding in the aggregate two consecutive years, and so much of any term of imprisonment or detention imposed on a person by a sentence in pursuance of this section as would prolong the total term of his punishment beyond that period shall be deemed to be remitted.

Prisons

(1) Every term of penal servitude, imprisonment, or detention in pursuance of this Act shall be reckoned as commencing on the day on which the sentence was awarded, and the place of imprisonment or detention, whether the imprisonment or detention was awarded as an original or as a commuted punishment, shall be such place as may be appointed by the court or the commanding officer awarding the punishment, or which may from time to time be appointed by the Central Government, and may, in the case of imprisonment, be one of the naval prisons appointed under this Act, or naval detention quarters, or any common gaol, house of correction, or military prison or detention barrack, and may in the case of detention be any naval detention quarters or a military detention barrack 34[* * *].

(2) Where, by reason of a ship being at sea or of a place at which there is no proper prison, or naval detention quarters, a sentence of imprisonment, or detention, as the case may be, cannot be duly executed, then, subject as hereinafter mentioned, an offender under sentence of imprisonment or detention, as the case may be, may be sent with all reasonable speed to some place at which there is a proper prison or naval detention quarters, or, in the case of an offender under sentence of detention, to some place at which there are naval detention quarters, in which the sentence can be duly executed, and on arrival there the offender shall undergo his sentence, in like manner as if the date of such arrival were the day on which the sentence was awarded, and that notwithstanding that in the meanwhile he has returned to his duty or become entitled to his discharge; and the term of imprisonment or detention, as the case may be, shall be reckoned accordingly, subject however to the deduction of any time during which he has been kept in confinement in respect of the said sentence.

(3) Where in pursuance of this Act a person is sentenced to imprisonment or detention the order of the Central Government or of 35[the Chief of the Naval Staff], or of the officer ordering the court-martial by which such person was sentenced, or, if he was sentenced by the commanding officer of a ship, the order of such commanding officer, shall be a sufficient warrant for the sending of such person to the place of imprisonment or detention, there to undergo his sentence according to law, and until he reaches such place of imprisonment or detention for detaining him in naval custody, or in the case of a person sentenced to imprisonment in any civil prison or place of confinement.

74-A. Power to suspend sentences. Where a person has been sentenced to penal servitude or imprisonment or detention the Central Government or officer who by virtue of sub-section (3) of Section seventy-four of this Act has power to issue an order of committal (hereinafter in this section referred to as the committing authority ) may, in lieu of issuing such an order, order that the sentence be suspended until an order of committal is issued, and in such case

(a) Notwithstanding anything in this Act, the term of the sentence shall not be reckoned as commencing until an order of committal is issued;

(b) The case may at any time, and shall at intervals of not more than three months, be reconsidered by the Central Government or committing authority, or an officer holding such command as the Central Government may by regulation prescribe, and, if on any such reconsideration it appears to the Central Government or committing authority or officer that the conduct of the offender since his conviction has been such as to justify a remission of the sentence the Central Government or committing authority or officer shall remit the whole or any part of it;

(c) Subject to regulations made by the Central Government the Central Government or committing authority, or an officer holding such command as the Central Government may by regulation prescribe, may at any time whilst the sentence is suspended issue an order of committal and thereupon the sentence shall cease to be suspended;

(d) Where a person subject to this Act, whilst a sentence on him is so suspended, is sentenced to penal servitude or imprisonment or detention for any other offence then, if he is at any time committed either under the suspended sentence or under any such subsequent sentence, and whether or not any such subsequent sentence has also been suspended, the committing authority may direct that the two sentences shall run either concurrently or consecutively, so, however, as not to cause a person to undergo imprisonment or detention for a period exceeding the aggregate of two consecutive years, and where the sentence for such other offence is a sentence of penal servitude, then, whether or not that sentence is suspended, any previous sentence of imprisonment or detention which has been suspended shall be avoided.

When a person has been sentenced to penal servitude or imprisonment or detention and an order of committal has been issued, the Central Government or the committing authority, or an officer holding such command as the Central Government may by regulation prescribe, may order the sentence to be suspended, and in such case the person whose sentence is suspended shall be discharged and the currency of the sentence shall be suspended until he is again committed under the same sentence, and the foregoing paragraphs (b), (c) and (d) of this section shall apply in like manner as in the case where a sentence has been suspended before an order of committal has been issued.

Where a sentence is suspended under this section, whether before or after committal, the Central Government or, subject to any regulation or direction which may be issued by the Central Government, the committing authority or officer by whom the sentence is suspended may, notwithstanding anything in Section fifty-three of this Act, direct that any penalty which is involved by the punishment of penal servitude or imprisonment or detention either shall be or shall not be remitted or suspended.

Whenever it is deemed expedient it shall be lawful for the Central Government, 36[the Chief of the Naval Staff], or senior naval officer present by any order in writing from time to time to change the place of confinement of any offender imprisoned or sentenced to be imprisoned or detained in pursuance of this Act or of any offender undergoing or sentenced to undergo detention, and the gaoler or other person having the custody of such offender shall immediately on the receipt of such order remove such offender to the gaol, prison, or house of correction, or, in the case of an offender undergoing or sentenced to undergo detention, to the naval detention quarters mentioned in the said order, or shall deliver him over to naval-custody for the purpose of the offender being removed to such prison or naval detention quarters; and every gaoler or keeper of such last-mentioned prison, gaol, or house of correction or naval detention quarters shall, upon being furnished with a copy of such order of removal, attested by a Secretary to the Central Government for the time being, receive into his custody and shall confine pursuant to such sentence or order every such offender.

The gaoler or other person removing any offender in pursuance of such order shall be allowed for the charges of such removal a sum not exceeding twelve annas a mile, and when any offender is not confined in a naval prison or naval detention quarters the gaoler or other person in whose custody any such offender may be shall receive such an allowance as the Central Government shall from time to time direct for every day that such offender is in his custody, to be applied towards his subsistence and such sum shall be paid to the said gaoler or other person under the authority of the Central Government, upon the application in writing made to the Central Government by the District Magistrate or Presidency Magistrate within whose jurisdiction such gaol, prison, or house of correction shall be situate, with a copy of the sentence or order under which the offender is confined.

77. [* * *]

Whenever any offender is undergoing imprisonment or detention in pursuance of this Act, it shall be lawful for the Central Government or where an offender is undergoing imprisonment or detention by order of his commanding officer, for such commanding officer or the Central Government to give an order in writing directing that the offender be discharged; and it shall also be lawful for the Central Government and any officer commanding any ship of the Indian Navy by order in writing, to direct that any such offender be delivered over to naval custody for the purpose of being brought before a court-martial, either as a witness, or for trial or otherwise, and such offender shall accordingly, on the production of any such order, be discharged, or be delivered over to such custody.

The time during which any offender under sentence of imprisonment or detention is detained in naval custody shall be reckoned as imprisonment or detention under his sentence for whatever purpose he is so detained; and the governor, gaoler, keeper, or superintendent who shall deliver over any such offender shall again receive him from naval custody, so that he may undergo the remainder of his punishment.

If any person imprisoned or undergoing detention by virtue of this Act shall become insane, and a certificate to that effect shall be given by two physicians or surgeons, the Central Government shall, by warrant, direct the removal of such person to such lunatic asylum or other proper receptacle for insane persons in 37[India] as it may judge proper for the unexpired term of his imprisonment or detention; and if any such person shall in the same manner be certified to be again of sound mind, the Central Government may issue a warrant for his being removed to such prison or place of confinement or in the case of a person sentenced to detention, such naval detention quarters as may be deemed expedient, to undergo the remainder of his punishment, and every gaoler or keeper of any prison, gaol, or house of correction shall receive him accordingly. 38[* * *].

(1) The Central Government may set apart any buildings or vessels, or any parts thereof, as naval prisons or naval detention quarters, and any buildings or vessels, or parts of buildings or vessels, so set apart as naval prisons or naval detention quarters, as the case may be, shall be deemed to be naval prisons or naval detention quarters respectively within the meaning of this Act.

39[(2) The Central Government may make rules40 providing for

(a) the government, management and regulation of naval prisons and detention quarters;

(b) the appointment and removal and powers of Inspectors, visitors and officers thereof;

(c) the labour of prisoners or persons undergoing detention therein and for enabling such prisoners or persons to earn by special industry and good conduct a remission of a portion of their sentence;

(d) the safe custody of such prisoners or persons and the maintenance of discipline among them and for punishment by personal correction, restraint or otherwise of offences committed by such prisoners or persons.]

41[(3) The rules to be made under this section may apply to naval prisons or detention quarters any of the provisions of the Prisons Act, 1894 (9 of 1894), and rules made thereunder imposing punishments on persons not prisoners or relating to the duties of gaolers, medical officers and other officers of the prisons.

(4) The rules to be made under this section shall not authorise corporal punishment to be inflicted for any offence.]

If any person shall convey or cause to be conveyed into any such naval prison or any such naval detention quarters any arms, tools, or instruments, or any mask or other disguise to facilitate the escape of any prisoner or person undergoing detention or by any means whatever shall aid any prisoner or person undergoing detention to escape or in an attempt to escape from such prison or naval detention quarters, whether an escape be actually made or not, such person shall be punished with imprisonment, which may be either rigorous or simple, for any term not exceeding two years, or suffer penal servitude for any term not exceeding fourteen years; and if any person shall bring or attempt to bring into such prison or naval detention quarters, in contravention of the rules, any spirituous or fermented liquor, he shall for every such offence be liable to a penalty not exceeding two hundred rupees and not less than one hundred rupees; and if any person shall bring into such prison or naval detention quarters or to or for any prisoner or person undergoing detention, without the knowledge of the officer having charge or command thereof, any money, clothing, provisions, tobacco, letters, papers, or other articles not allowed by the rules of the prison or naval detention quarters, to be in the possession of a prisoner or person undergoing detention, or shall throw into the said prison or naval detention quarters any such articles, or by desire of any prisoner or person undergoing detention, without the sanction of the said officer, shall carry out of the prison or naval detention quarters any of the articles aforesaid, he shall for every such offence be liable to a penalty not exceeding fifty rupees; and if any person shall interrupt any officer of such prison or naval detention quarters in the execution of his duty, or shall aid or excite any person to assault, resist, or interrupt any such officer, he shall for every such offence be liable to a penalty not exceeding fifty rupees, or if the offender be a prisoner or person undergoing detention, he shall be punished with imprisonment, which may be either rigorous or simple, for any time not exceeding six calendar months, in addition to so much of the time for which he was originally sentenced as may be then unexpired, and every such penalty shall be applied as the Central Government shall direct, any law, statute, charter, or custom to the contrary notwithstanding.

Every governor, gaoler, and keeper of any prison, gaol or house of correction or of any naval detention quarters, and every officer having the charge or command of any place, ship, or vessel for imprisonment, who shall, without lawful excuse, refuse or neglect to receive or confine, remove, discharge, or deliver up any offender against the provisions of this Act, or any of them, shall incur for every such refusal or neglect a penalty not exceeding one thousand rupees and every such penalty shall be applied as the Central Government shall direct, any law, statute, charter, or custom to the contrary, notwithstanding.

SUPPLEMENTAL PROVISIONS

42[In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context,

officer means a commissioned officer, warrant officer, or subordinate officer of the Indian Navy, or an officer holding any such position in the Indian Naval Reserve Forces during and in respect of the time when he is subject to the provisions of this Act, but does not include a petty officer; and

superior officer , when used in relation to a person subject to this Act, includes an officer of the Indian Military or Air Force when serving under such conditions as may be prescribed by the Central Government and includes also a petty officer.

(1) Officers, other than warrant officers and subordinate officers, shall be appointed by commission of the President.

(2) The grant of the commission shall be notified in the Gazette of India and such notification shall be conclusive proof of the grant of such commission.

(3) Warrant officers and subordinate officers shall be appointed in such manner and shall hold such rank or rating as may be prescribed by regulations made by the Central Government.

(4) All officers of the Indian Navy borne on the books of any ship of the Indian Navy in commission at the commencement of the Constitution shall be deemed to have been duly appointed under the provisions of this section, and where such officers hold commissions or warrants granted before the commencement of the Constitution, they shall be deemed to have relinquished such commissions or warrants.

The terms and conditions of service and the manner and procedure of enrolment and re-enrolment of persons other than officers shall be as prescribed by regulations of the Central Government, and such persons borne on the books of any ship of the Indian Navy in commission at the commencement of the Constitution shall be deemed to have been enrolled under the provisions of this section.]

Every person in or belonging to the Indian Navy, and borne on the books of any ship of the Indian Navy in commission and every member of 43[the Indian Naval Reserve Forces to the extent specified in Section 4 of the Indian Naval Reserve Forces (Discipline) Act, 1939] shall be subject to this Act; and all other persons hereby or by any other Act made liable thereto shall be triable and punishable under the provisions of this Act.

The Indian land and air forces, when embarked on board any ship of the Indian Navy, shall be subject to the provisions of this Act to such extent and under such regulations 44[as the Central Government may from time to time direct].

All other persons ordered to be received or being passengers on board any ship of the Indian Navy shall be deemed to be persons subject to this Act, under such regulations as the Central Government may from time to time direct.

45[(1) If any person who would not otherwise be subject to this Act enters into 46[an engagement to serve the Central Government]

(a) in a particular ship, or

(b) in such particular ship or in such ships as 47[the Chief of the Naval Staff] or any officer empowered in this behalf by 48[the Chief of the Naval Staff], may from time to time determine,

and agrees to become subject to this Act upon entering into the engagement that person shall, so long as the engagement remains in force, and notwithstanding that for the time being he may not be serving in any ship, be subject to this Act, and the provisions of this Act shall apply in relation to that person, as if, while subject to this Act, he belonged to the Indian Navy and were borne on the books of a ship of the Indian Navy in commission.

(2) The Central Government may by order direct that, subject to such exceptions as may in particular cases be made by or on behalf of 49[the Chief of the Naval Staff], persons of any such class as may be specified in the order shall, while subject to this Act by virtue of this section, be deemed to be officers or petty officers, as the case may be, for the purposes of this Act or of such provisions of this Act as may be so specified; and any such order may be varied or revoked by a subsequent order.]

50[90-A. Relative rank of naval and military or air force officers, etc., to be prescribed by Central Government. The relative rank of naval and military or air force officers, petty officers, junior commissioned officers and non-commissioned officers shall, for the purposes of this Act relating to superior officers, be such as may be prescribed by regulations of the Central Government.]

51[90-B. Relations between the Royal Navy and the Indian Navy. While any member of the Royal Navy is attached to or serving with the Indian Navy, he shall have, in relation to the members of the Indian Navy, the powers of command and punishment appropriate to his rank and functions.]

90-C. Persons serving in a ship of the Royal or Dominion Navy to be subject to the laws and customs thereof. (1) Any person in or belonging to the Indian Navy, who, by order of the Central Government, 52[or of any naval officer authorised by the Central Government in this behalf] is serving in a ship belonging to Royal Navy or to the naval forces of a self-governing Dominion 53[* * *]or in a naval establishment of Royal Navy or a self-governing Dominion 54[* * *], or who is on board any such ship or in any such establishment awaiting passage or conveyance to any destination shall, for all purposes of command and discipline, be subject to the laws and customs for the time being applicable to the Royal Navy or the ships and naval forces of the self-governing Dominion 55[* * *], as the case may be.

(2) For the purposes of this section, the expression self-governing Dominion includes the Dominion of Canada, the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominion of New Zealand, the Union of South Africa, 56[Newfoundland, Pakistan and Ceylon].

When any ship of the Indian Navy shall be wrecked or lost or destroyed, or taken by the enemy, such ship shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to remain in commission until her crew shall be regularly removed into some other ship of war of the Indian Navy or until a court-martial shall have been held, pursuant to the custom of the navy in such cases, to inquire into the cause of the wreck, loss, destruction, or capture of the said ship.

When no specific charge shall be made against any officer or seaman or other person in the fleet for or in respect or in consequence of such wreck, loss, destruction, or capture, it shall be lawful to try all the officers and crew, or all the surviving officers and crew of any such ship, together, before one and the same court, and to call upon all or any of them when upon their trial to give evidence on oath or affirmation before the court touching any of the matters then under inquiry, but no officer or seaman or other person shall be obliged to give any evidence which may tend to criminate himself.

When deemed necessary by the Central Government or any officer authorised to order courts-martial, separate courts-martial shall be held for the trial of some one or more of such officers and crew for or in respect or in consequence of the wreck, loss, destruction, or capture of any such ship.

For any offence or offences committed by any officer or seaman, or officers and seamen, after the wreck, loss, destruction, or capture of any such ship, a separate court-martial shall be held for the trial of such offender or offenders.

When any ship of the Indian Navy shall be wrecked, lost, or otherwise destroyed, or taken by the enemy, if it shall appear by the sentence of a court-martial that the crew of such ship did, in the case of a ship wrecked or lost, do their utmost to save her or get her off, and in the case of a ship taken by the enemy did their utmost to defend themselves, and that they have, since the wreck, destruction, loss, or capture of such ship, behaved themselves well, and been obedient to their officers, then all the pay of such crews, or of such portions of such crews as have behaved themselves well and been obedient to their officers, shall be continued until the time of their being discharged or removed into other ships of the Indian Navy, or dying.

If the ship of any officer ordered to command any two or more ships of the Indian Navy shall be wrecked, lost or otherwise destroyed, such officer shall continue in the command of any ship or ships which at the time of his ship being wrecked, lost, or destroyed was or were under his command, and it shall be lawful for such officer to order the surviving officers and crew of the wrecked, lost, or destroyed ship to join any other ship under his command, or to distribute them among the other ships under his command, if more than one, and such officer shall, until he meets with some other officer senior to himself, have the same power and authority in all respects as if his ship had not been wrecked, lost, or destroyed.

It shall not be lawful for any person to arrest any petty officer or seaman, 57[* * *], belonging to any ship of the Indian Navy by any warrant, process, or writ issued in any part of 58[the States] for any debt, unless the debt was contracted at a time when the debtor did not belong to 59[the Naval service], nor unless before the issuing of the warrant, process, or writ, the plaintiff in the suit or some person on his behalf has made an affidavit in the court out of which it is issued, that the debt justly due to the plaintiff (over and above all costs) was contracted at a time when the debtor did not belong to 60[the Naval service], nor unless a memorandum of such affidavit is marked on the back of the warrant, process, or writ.

If any petty officer or seaman, 61[* * *], is arrested in contravention of the provisions of the last foregoing section, the court out of which the warrant, process, or writ issues, or any judge thereof, may, on complaint by the party arrested, or by his superior officer, investigate the case on oath or otherwise, and if satisfied that the arrest was made in contravention of the provisions of the last foregoing section, may make an order for the immediate discharge of the party arrested, without fee, and may award to the complainant the costs of his complaint, to be taxed by the proper officer, for the recovery whereof he shall have the like remedy as the plaintiff in the suit would have on judgment being given in his favour, with costs.

98-A. Liability of seamen, etc., for maintenance of wives and children. (1) A person subject to this Act shall be liable to contribute to the maintenance of his wife and of his children, legitimate or illegitimate, to the same extent as if he were not so subject; but execution in respect of any such liability or of any decree or order in respect of such maintenance shall not issue against his person, pay, arms, ammunition, equipments, instruments or clothing.

(2) Where

(a) it appears to the satisfaction of the Central Government or any person deputed by it for the purpose that a person subject to this Act has deserted or left in destitute circumstances, without reasonable cause, his wife or any of his legitimate children under fourteen years of age; or

(b) any decree or order is made under any law for payment by a man who is or subsequently becomes subject to this Act either of the cost of the maintenance of his wife or child, or of the cost of any relief given to his wife or child by way of loan, and a copy of such decree or order is sent to the Central Government or any person deputed by it for the purpose;

the Central Government or the person so deputed may direct to be deducted from the pay of the person so subject to this Act, and to be appropriated towards the maintenance of his wife or children, or in liquidation of the sum adjudged to be paid by such decree or order, as the case may be, in such manner as the Central Government or the person so deputed may think fit, a portion of such pay, at its or his discretion, but the amount deducted shall not exceed the amount fixed by the decree or order (if any), and shall not be a higher rate than the rates fixed by rules made in this behalf by the Central Government:

Provided that no such deductions from pay in liquidation of a sum adjudged to be paid by a decree or order as aforesaid shall be ordered unless the Central Government, or the person deputed by it is satisfied that the person against whom the decree or order was made has had a reasonable opportunity of appearing himself, or has appeared by a duly authorised legal representative, to defend the case before the court by which the decree or order was made, and a certificate, purporting to be a certificate of the commanding officer of the ship on which he was or is serving, or on the books of which he was or is borne, that the person has been prevented by the requirements of the service from attending at a hearing of any such case shall be evidence of the fact unless the contrary is proved.

Where any arrears have accumulated in respect of sums adjudged to be paid by any such decree or order as aforesaid whilst the person against whom the decree or order was made was serving under this Act, whether or not deductions in respect thereof have been made from his pay under this section, then after he has ceased so to serve an order of committal shall not be made in respect of those arrears unless the court is satisfied that he is able, or has, since he has ceased so to serve, been able to pay the arrears or any part thereof and has failed to do so.

(3) Where a proceeding under any law is instituted against a person subject to this Act for the purpose of enforcing against him any such liability as above in this section mentioned, the process may be served on the commanding officer of the ship on which he is serving or on the books of which such person is borne, or where, by reason of the ship being at sea or otherwise, it is impracticable to serve the process on such commanding officer, the process may, after not less than three weeks' notice to the Central Government, be served by being sent to a Secretary to the Central Government for transmission to such commanding officer, but such service shall not be valid unless there is left therewith in the hands of such commanding officer or Central Government such sum of money, if any (to be adjudged as costs incurred in obtaining the decree or order if made against the person on whom the process is issued), as may be fixed by the Central Government as being necessary to enable him to attend the hearing of the case and to return to his ship or quarters, and such sum may be expended by the commanding officer for that purpose, and no process whatever under any law in any proceeding in this section mentioned shall be valid against a person subject to this Act if served after such person is under orders for service on a foreign station.

The production of a certificate of the receipt of the process purporting to be signed by such commanding officer as aforesaid shall be evidence that the process has been duly served unless the contrary is proved.

Where, by a decree or order sent to the Central Government or officer in accordance with sub-section (2) of this section, the person against whom the decree or order is made is adjudged to pay as costs incurred in obtaining the decree or order any sum so left with the process as aforesaid, the Central Government may cause a sum equal to the sum so left to be paid in liquidation of the sum so adjudged to be paid as costs, and the amount so paid by the Central Government shall be a public debt from the person against whom the decree or order was made, and, without prejudice to any other method of recovery, may be recovered by reduction from his pay, in addition to those mentioned in sub-section (2) of this section.

(4) This section shall not apply to persons subject to this Act where such persons are officers.

(5) In this section the expression pay includes all sums payable to a man in respect of his services other than allowances in lieu of lodgings, rations, provisions, and clothing.

SAVING CLAUSE

99. [* * *]

62[Nothing in this Act shall take away, abridge, or control, further or otherwise than as expressly provided by this Act, any right or power of the Central Government.]

Nothing in this Act contained shall be deemed or taken to supersede or affect the authority or power of any court or tribunal of ordinary civil or criminal jurisdiction, or any officer thereof, 63[* * *], in respect of any offence mentioned in this Act which may be punishable or cognisable by the common or statute law, or to prevent any person being proceeded against and punished in respect of any such offence otherwise than under this Act.

PRINTING CLAUSE

[Repealed by the Adaptation of Laws Order, 1950.]

Enactments Repealed. [Repealed by the Adaptation of Laws Order, 1950.]

Enactments Repealed. [Repealed by the Repealing Act, 1938 (1 of 1938), Section 2 and Schedule.]

1 This Act as in force in the State of Bihar was applied to the Sonthal Parganas District by Bihar Regulation 2 of 1944, Section 2. The Act was also extended to the merged States and new Provinces by the Merged States (Laws) Act, 1949 (59 of 1949), Section 3 and Schedule; and to the States of Manipur, Tripura and Vindhya Pradesh by the Part C States (Laws) Act, 1950 (30 of 1950), Section 3.

2 Substituted by the A.O. 1950, for the application of the Naval Discipline Act to .

3 Substituted by the A.O. 1950, for the former preamble.

4 2-10-1934: see Gazette of India, 1934, Extraordinary, p. 227.

5 The original Section 2 (Definitions) was repealed by the A.O. 1950. The original Section 3 (Application of the Naval Discipline Act to the Indian Navy) was repealed by the A.O. 1950. The original Section 4 (Repeals) was repealed by the Repealing Act, 1938 (1 of 1938), Section 2 and Schedule. The words The First Schedule and preamble of the Naval Discipline Act (29 and 30 Vict., c. 109) omitted by the A.O. 1950.

6 Renumbered by the A.O. 1950, for 1 .

7 Substituted by Act 19 of 1955, Section 2 and Schedule, for the Commander-in-Chief, Indian Navy .

8 Substituted by Act 19 of 1955, Section 2 and Schedule, for the Commander-in-Chief, Indian Navy .

9 Inserted by Act 29 of 1940, Section 2.

10 Inserted by the A.O. 1950.

11 Substituted by the A.O. 1950, for His Majesty's dockyards .

12 Inserted by the A.O. 1950.

13 Substituted by Act 25 of 1942, Section 3 and Schedule II, for shall not be exercisable by the Provincial Government .

14 Substituted by Ordinance 11 of 1943, Section 2, for may be inflicted for any term .

15 The words and hard labour or either of them were repealed by Act 25 of 1942, Section 3 and Schedule II.

16 The words other than a European or American were omitted by the A.O. 1950.

17 Substituted by Act 29 of 1940, Section 2, for corporal punishment shall be deemed equal in degree to imprisonment and .

18 Certain words omitted by the A.O. 1950.

19 Inserted by Ordinance 9 of 1941, Section 2.

20 Substituted by Act 57 of 1948, Section 2, for the president is a captain .

21 Inserted by the A.O. 1948.

22 Substituted by Act 19 of 1955, Section 2 and Schedule, for the Commander-in Chief, Indian Navy .

23 Substituted by the A.O. 1950, for the former section.

24 Substituted by the A.O. 1950, for certain words.

25 Substituted by the A.O. 1950, for certain words.

26 Substituted by the A.O. 1950, for certain words.

27 Substituted by Act 3 of 1951, Section 3 and Schedule, for any Part A State or Part C State .

28 The words during His Majesty's pleasure were repealed by the A.O. 1950.

29 Substituted by Act 19 of 1955, Section 2 and Schedule, for the Commander-in-Chief, Indian Navy .

30 Substituted by the A.O. 1950, for by authority and either to be printed by a Government printer or to be issued by His Majesty's Stationery Office .

31 Substituted by Act 3 of 1951, Section 3 and Schedule, for a Part A State .

32 Substituted by Act 3 of 1951, Section 3 and Schedule, for a Part A State .

33 Substituted by Act 19 of 1955, Section 2 and Schedule, for the Commander-in-Chief, Indian Navy .

34 The words within His Majesty's dominions were omitted by the A.O. 1950.

35 Substituted by Act 19 of 1955, Section 2 and Schedule, for the Commander-in-Chief, Indian Navy .

36 Substituted by Act 19 of 1955, Section 2 and Schedule, for the Commander-in-Chief, Indian Navy .

37 Substituted by Act 3 of 1951, Section 3 and Schedule, for Part A States and Part C States .

38 The sentence This section shall not apply to persons imprisoned in England was omitted by the A.O. 1950.

39 Substituted by the A.O. 1950.

40 For rules and regulations for naval detention quarters in India, see Notification No. 133, dated 19-1-1946, Gazette of India, 1946, Part I, page 98.

41 Inserted by the A.O. 1950.

42 Substituted by the A.O. 1950, for the original Sections 84, 85 and 86.

43 Substituted by the Indian Naval Reserve Forces (Discipline) Act, 1939, Section 8, for the Indian Naval Volunteer Reserve during and in respect of the time when he is serving in the Indian Navy, whether for training or exercise or having been called up for any duty or service for which as a member of such Reserve he is liable .

44 Substituted by the A.O. 1948, for as His Majesty, His heirs and successors, by any Order or Orders in Council, shall at any time or times direct .

45 Substituted by Act 8 of 1947, Section 2, for the original section as continued in force by Ordinance 20 of 1946.

46 Substituted by the A.O. 1950, for an engagement with the Central Government to serve His Majesty .

47 Substituted by Act 19 of 1955, Section 2 and Schedule, for the Commander-in-Chief, Indian Navy .

48 Substituted by Act 19 of 1955, Section 2 and Schedule, for the Commander-in-Chief, Indian Navy .

49 Substituted by Act 19 of 1955, Section 2 and Schedule, for the Commander-in-Chief, Indian Navy .

50 Substituted by the A.O. 1950, for the former section.

51 Substituted by the A.O. 1950, for the former section.

52 Inserted by Ordinance 17 of 1944, Section 2.

53 The words or Burma inserted by Act 30 of 1940, were repealed by the A.O. 1948.

54 The words or Burma inserted by Act 30 of 1940, were repealed by the A.O. 1948.

55 The words or Burma inserted by Act 30 of 1940, were repealed by the A.O. 1948.

56 Substituted by the A.O. 1948, for and Newfoundland .

57 The words non-commissioned officer of marines or marine were repealed by the A.O. 1950.

58 Substituted by the A.O. 1950, for His Majesty's dominions .

59 Substituted by the A.O. 1950, for His Majesty's service .

60 Substituted by the A.O. 1950, for His Majesty's service .

61 The words non-commissioned officer of marines or marine were repealed by the A.O. 1950.

62 Substituted by A.O. 1950.

63 The words in His Majesty's dominions were omitted by A.O. 1950.