The Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force Act, 1992
Administered Ministry: Ministry of Home Affairs / Department of Internal Security
Section
Section 121 Finding and sentence not valid unless confirmed.
No finding or sentence of a General Force Court or a Petty Force Court shall be valid except so far as it may be confirmed as provided by this Act.
Section 122 Power to confirm finding and sentence of General Force Court.
The findings and sentences of General Force Courts may be confirmed by the Central Government or by any officer empowered in this behalf by warrant of the Central Government.
Section 123 Power to confirm finding and sentence of Petty Force Court.
The findings and sentences of a Petty Force Court may be confirmed by an officer having power to convene a General Force Court or by any officer empowered in this behalf by warrant of such officer.
Section 124 Limitation of powers of confirming authority.
A warrant issued under section 122 or section 123 may contain such restrictions, reservations or conditions as the authority issuing it may think fit.
Section 125 Power of confirming authority to mitigate, remit or commute sentences.
Subject to such restrictions, reservations or conditions, as may be contained in any warrant issued under section 122 or section 123, a confirming authority may, when confirming the sentence of a Force Court, mitigate or remit the punishment thereby awarded or commute that punishment for any punishment or punishments lower in the scale laid down in section 51.
Section 126 Confirming of findings and sentences on board a ship.
When any person subject to this Act is tried and sentenced by a Force Court while on board a ship, the finding and sentence so far as not confirmed and executed on board the ship, may be confirmed and executed in like manner as if such person had been tried at the port of disembarkation.
Section 127 Revision of finding or sentence. 1 docs
(1) Any finding or sentence of a Force Court which requires confirmation may be once revised by order of the confirming authority and on such revision, the Court, if so directed by the confirming authority, may take additional evidence.
(2) The Court, on revision, shall consist of the same officers as were present when the original decision was passed unless any of those officers are unavoidably absent.
(3) In case of such unavoidable absence the cause thereof shall be duly certified in the proceedings, and the Court shall proceed with the revision, provided that, if a General Force Court, it still consists of five officers, or, if a Petty Force Court, of three officers.
(2) The Court, on revision, shall consist of the same officers as were present when the original decision was passed unless any of those officers are unavoidably absent.
(3) In case of such unavoidable absence the cause thereof shall be duly certified in the proceedings, and the Court shall proceed with the revision, provided that, if a General Force Court, it still consists of five officers, or, if a Petty Force Court, of three officers.
Section 128 Finding and sentence of a Summary Force Court.
The finding and sentence of a Summary Force Court shall not require to be confirmed, but may be carried out forthwith.
Section 129 Transmission of proceedings of Summary Force Court.
The proceedings of every Summary Force Court shall, without delay be forwarded to the officer not below the rank of Additional Deputy Inspector-General within whose command the trial was held, or to the prescribed officer, and such officer, or the Director-General or any officer empowered by him in this behalf may, for reasons based on the merits of the case, but not on merely technical grounds, set aside the proceedings, or reduce the sentence to any other sentence which the Court might have passed.
Section 130 Alteration of finding or sentence in certain cases. 1 docs
(1) Where a finding of guilty by a Force Court, which has been confirmed or which does not require confirmation, is found for any reason to be invalid or cannot be supported by the evidence, the authority which would have had power under section 142 to commute the punishment awarded by the sentence, if the finding had been valid may substitute a new finding and pass a sentence for the offence specified or involved in such finding:
Provided that no such substitution shall be made unless such finding could have been validly made by the Force Court on the charge and unless it appears that the Force Court must have been satisfied of the facts establishing the said offence.
(2) Where a sentence passed by a Force Court which has been confirmed, or which does not require confirmation, not being a sentence passed in pursuance of a new finding substituted under sub-section (1), is found for any reason to be invalid, the authority referred to in sub-section (1) may pass a valid sentence.
(3) The punishment awarded by a sentence passed under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) shall not be higher in the scale of punishments than, or in excess of, the punishment awarded by, the sentence for which a new sentence is substituted under this section.
(4) Any finding substituted, or any sentence passed, under this section shall, for the purposes of this Act and the rules, have effect as if it were a finding or sentence, as the case may be, of a Force Court.
Provided that no such substitution shall be made unless such finding could have been validly made by the Force Court on the charge and unless it appears that the Force Court must have been satisfied of the facts establishing the said offence.
(2) Where a sentence passed by a Force Court which has been confirmed, or which does not require confirmation, not being a sentence passed in pursuance of a new finding substituted under sub-section (1), is found for any reason to be invalid, the authority referred to in sub-section (1) may pass a valid sentence.
(3) The punishment awarded by a sentence passed under sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) shall not be higher in the scale of punishments than, or in excess of, the punishment awarded by, the sentence for which a new sentence is substituted under this section.
(4) Any finding substituted, or any sentence passed, under this section shall, for the purposes of this Act and the rules, have effect as if it were a finding or sentence, as the case may be, of a Force Court.
Section 131 Remedy against order, finding or sentence of Force Court. 1 docs
(1) Any person subject to this Act who considers himself aggrieved by any order passed by any Force Court may present a petition to the officer or authority empowered to confirm any finding or sentence of such Force Court, and the confirming authority may take such steps as may be considered necessary to satisfy itself as to the correctness, legality or propriety of the order passed or as to the regularity of any proceeding to which the order relates.
(2) Any person subject to this Act who considers himself aggrieved by a finding or sentence of any Force Court which has been confirmed, may present a petition to the Central Government, the Director-General or any prescribed officer superior in command to the one who confirmed such finding or sentence, and the Central Government, the Director-General, or the prescribed officer, as the case may be, may pass such order thereon as it or he thinks fit.
(2) Any person subject to this Act who considers himself aggrieved by a finding or sentence of any Force Court which has been confirmed, may present a petition to the Central Government, the Director-General or any prescribed officer superior in command to the one who confirmed such finding or sentence, and the Central Government, the Director-General, or the prescribed officer, as the case may be, may pass such order thereon as it or he thinks fit.
Section 132 Annulment of proceedings. 1 docs
The Central Government, the Director-General or any prescribed officer may annul the proceedings of any Force Court on the ground that they are illegal or unjust.
Section 133 Form of sentence of death.
In awarding a sentence of death, a Force Court shall, in its discretion direct that the offender shall suffer death by being hanged by the neck until he be dead, or shall suffer death by being shot to death.
Section 134 Commencement of sentence of imprisonment.
Whenever any person is sentenced by a Force Court under this Act to imprisonment, the term of his sentence shall, whether it has been revised or not, be reckoned to commence on the day on which the original proceedings were signed by the presiding officer, or in the case of a Summary Force Court, by the Court:
Provided that—
(i) if for any reason, beyond the control of the commanding officer or superior officer, the sentence of imprisonment cannot be executed in full or in part, the convict shall be liable to undergo the whole or unexpired portion of sentence, as the case may be, when it becomes possible to carry out the same;
(ii) the period of detention or confinement, if any, undergone by an accused person, during the investigation, inquiry or trial of the case in which he is sentenced and before the date on which the original proceedings were signed shall be set off against the term of his sentence and the liability of such person to undergo imprisonment shall be restricted to the remainder, if any of the term of his sentence.
Provided that—
(i) if for any reason, beyond the control of the commanding officer or superior officer, the sentence of imprisonment cannot be executed in full or in part, the convict shall be liable to undergo the whole or unexpired portion of sentence, as the case may be, when it becomes possible to carry out the same;
(ii) the period of detention or confinement, if any, undergone by an accused person, during the investigation, inquiry or trial of the case in which he is sentenced and before the date on which the original proceedings were signed shall be set off against the term of his sentence and the liability of such person to undergo imprisonment shall be restricted to the remainder, if any of the term of his sentence.
Section 135 Execution of sentence of imprisonment. 1 docs
(1) Whenever any sentence of imprisonment is passed under this Act by a Force Court or whenever any sentence of death is commuted to imprisonment, the confirming officer or in case of a Summary Force Court the officer holding the Court or such other officer as may be prescribed shall, save as otherwise provided in sub-sections (3) and (4), direct that the sentence shall be carried out by confinement in a civil prison.
(2) When a direction has been made under sub-section (1), the commanding officer of the person under sentence or such other officer as may be prescribed shall forward a warrant in the prescribed form to the officer in charge of the prison in which such person is to be confined and shall arrange for his dispatch to such prison with the warrant.
(3) In the case of a sentence of imprisonment for a period not exceeding three months and passed under this Act by a Force Court, the appropriate officer under sub-section (1) may direct that the sentence shall be carried out by confinement in Force custody instead of in a civil prison.
(4) On active duty, a sentence of imprisonment may be carried out by confinement in such place as the officer not below the rank of Additional Deputy Inspector-General within whose command the person sentenced is serving or any prescribed officer may from time to time appoint.
(2) When a direction has been made under sub-section (1), the commanding officer of the person under sentence or such other officer as may be prescribed shall forward a warrant in the prescribed form to the officer in charge of the prison in which such person is to be confined and shall arrange for his dispatch to such prison with the warrant.
(3) In the case of a sentence of imprisonment for a period not exceeding three months and passed under this Act by a Force Court, the appropriate officer under sub-section (1) may direct that the sentence shall be carried out by confinement in Force custody instead of in a civil prison.
(4) On active duty, a sentence of imprisonment may be carried out by confinement in such place as the officer not below the rank of Additional Deputy Inspector-General within whose command the person sentenced is serving or any prescribed officer may from time to time appoint.
Section 136 Temporary custody of offender.
Where a sentence of imprisonment is directed to be undergone in a civil prison, the offender may be kept in Force custody or in any other fit place till such time as it is possible to send him to a civil prison.
Section 137 Execution of sentence of imprisonment in special cases.
Whenever, in the opinion of an officer not below the rank of Additional Deputy Inspector-General within whose command the trial is held, any sentence or portion of a sentence of imprisonment cannot for special reasons conveniently be carried out in Force custody in accordance with the provisions of section 135, such officer may direct that such sentence or portion of sentence shall be carried out by confinement in any civil prison or other fit place.
Section 138 Conveyance of prisoner from place to place.
A person under sentence of imprisonment may during his conveyance from place to place, or when on board a ship, aircraft, or otherwise, be subjected to such restraint as is necessary for his safe conduct and removal.
Section 139 Communication of certain orders to prison officers. 1 docs
Whenever an order is duly made under this Act setting aside or varying any sentence, order or warrant under which any person is confined in a civil prison, a warrant in accordance with such order shall be forwarded by the officer making the order or his staff officer or such other person as may be prescribed, to the officer in charge of the prison in which such person is confined.
Section 140 Execution of sentence of fine.
When a sentence of fine is imposed by a Force Court under section 49, a copy of such sentence signed and certified by the confirming officer, or where no confirmation is required, by the officer holding the trial may be sent to any magistrate in India, and such magistrate shall thereupon cause the fine to be recovered in accordance with the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974), as if it were a sentence of fine imposed by such magistrate.