Criminal Justice Act, 1990
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FIRST SCHEDULE Consequential Amendments | ||
1. In section 2 of the Piracy Act, 1837 , “and on conviction thereof shall be sentenced to imprisonment for life” shall be inserted at the end of the section. | ||
2. Section 103 of the Children Act, 1908, shall have effect in relation to a child or young person who is convicted of an offence for which an adult would be required to be sentenced to imprisonment for life as it had effect before the passing of this Act in relation to a child or young person convicted of an offence for which an adult would have been required to be sentenced to death. | ||
3. Section 1 of the Treason Act, 1939 , shall be amended as follows: | ||
(a) in subsections (1) and (2) “be sentenced on conviction thereof to imprisonment for life” shall be substituted for “be liable on conviction thereof to suffer death”, and | ||
(b) in subsection (3) “murder to which section 3 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1990, applies” shall be substituted for “capital murder” (inserted therein by the Criminal Justice Act, 1964 ). | ||
4. The Defence Act, 1954 , shall be amended as follows: | ||
(a) in section 50 (2) “death,” shall be deleted; | ||
(b) in sections 124 and 125 “imprisonment for life” shall be substituted for “death”; | ||
(c) in section 126 (2) (iii) “for any term not exceeding two years” shall be inserted after “imprisonment”; | ||
(d) in sections 127 and 128 “imprisonment for life” shall be substituted for “death”; | ||
(e) in sections 133, 134, 135 (1) (b), 136, 137 (1), 140, 141, 142 (b), 142A (1) (ii), 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 150, 152, 153, 156, 157, 159 (1), 160, 161 (2), 162, 163, 164 (1), 165, 166, 167 and 168 (1) “for any term not exceeding two years” shall be inserted after “imprisonment”; | ||
(f) the following section shall be substituted for section 169: | ||
“Offences punishable by ordinary law. | ||
169.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, every person who, while he is subject to military law, commits any of the offences referred to in this section shall be deemed to be guilty of an offence against military law and, if charged under this section with any such offence (in this Act referred to as a civil offence) shall be liable to be tried by court-martial. | ||
(2) Where a person charged under this section is convicted by a court-martial of treason or murder, he shall be sentenced to imprisonment for life. | ||
(3) Where a person charged under this section is convicted by a court-martial of an offence other than treason or murder, he shall be liable to be punished as follows: | ||
(a) if he is convicted of manslaughter, be liable to suffer penal servitude or any less punishment awardable by a court-martial; | ||
(b) if he is convicted of rape, be liable to suffer penal servitude or any less punishment awardable by a court-martial; | ||
(c) if he is convicted of an act of genocide which would be punishable under the Genocide Act, 1973 , be liable— | ||
(i) in case the offence consists of the killing of any person, to imprisonment for life, or | ||
(ii) in any other case, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years; | ||
(d) if he is convicted of any offence not before in this section particularly specified which when committed in the State is punishable by the ordinary criminal law of the State, be liable, whether the offence is committed in the State or elsewhere, either to suffer any punishment assigned for such offence by law of the State or, if he is subject to military law as an officer, dismissal with ignominy from the Defence Forces or any less punishment awardable by a court-martial or, if he is subject to military law as a man, imprisonment for any term not exceeding two years or any less punishment awardable by a court-martial.”; | ||
(g) the following section shall be inserted after section 169: | ||
“Trial by court-martial of treason and certain murders and attempts. | ||
169A.—(1) A person subject to military law who is accused of murder which is alleged to be murder to which section 3 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1990, applies or of an attempt to commit such a murder and is to be tried by court-martial shall be charged with murder to which that section applies or, as the case may be, with an attempt to commit such a murder, and the following provisions of that Act, namely— | ||
(a) section 4 , with the substitution of ‘court-martial’ for ‘court’, and | ||
(b) subsection (2) of section 6 , with the substitution of ‘charged with’ for ‘indicted for’, | ||
shall apply and have effect in relation to the trial. | ||
(2) The said section 4 shall apply and have effect, in relation to the trial of a person subject to military law who is accused of treason, with the substitution of ‘court-martial’ for ‘court’.”; | ||
(h) in section 192 (2) (d) “for any term not exceeding two years” shall be inserted after “imprisonment”; | ||
(i) in section 198, subsection (2) shall be deleted; | ||
(j) in sections 209 (1) and 210 (1) “Imprisonment for life” shall be substituted for “Death”; | ||
(k) in section 210 (6) “imprisonment for life or” shall be inserted before “penal servitude” in each place where those words occur; | ||
(l) in subsections (7) and (10) of section 210 “for any term not exceeding two years” shall be inserted after “imprisonment”; | ||
(m) section 212 shall not apply to a sentence of imprisonment for life; | ||
(n) in section 220, subsection (2) shall be deleted and, in subsection (3), “imprisonment on conviction of treason or of murder, or attempted murder, to which section 3 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1990, applies” shall be substituted for “death”; | ||
(o) in section 221 (1) “(other than a sentence of death)” shall be deleted and the following proviso added: | ||
“Provided that— | ||
(i) the said power of mitigation or remission shall not, in the case of a sentence of imprisonment passed on a person on conviction of treason or of murder, or attempted murder, to which section 3 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1990, applies, be exercisable before the expiration of the minimum period specified by the court-martial under section 4 of that Act, as applied by section 169A of this Act, less any reduction of that period under paragraph (ii) of this proviso, and | ||
(ii) the rules or practice whereby prisoners generally may earn remission of sentence by industry and good conduct shall apply in the case of a person serving a sentence passed on him on conviction of treason or of murder, or attempted murder, to which the said section 3 applies as if he had been sentenced to a term of imprisonment equal to the minimum period specified by the court-martial under the said section 4 , as applied by section 169A of this Act, and that period shall be reduced by the amount of any remission which he has so earned.”; | ||
(p) in section 222, paragraph (a) and “in any other case” in paragraph (b) shall be deleted; | ||
(q) the following subsection shall be added to section 223: | ||
“(10) This section shall not apply to a sentence of imprisonment on conviction of treason or of murder, or attempted murder, to which section 3 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1990, applies.”; | ||
(r) section 227 shall be deleted; | ||
(s) the following subsection shall be inserted in section 228 after subsection (1): | ||
“(1A) Where a sentence of imprisonment for life is passed by a court-martial and confirmed, the military prisoner shall, as soon as practicable, be committed to a public prison to undergo his sentence according to law, and subsections (2) to (7) of this section shall have effect in relation to him— | ||
(a) as if each reference therein to a military convict were a reference to a military prisoner and each reference to a penal servitude prison a reference to a public prison, and | ||
(b) as if the reference in the said subsection (7) to penal servitude were a reference to imprisonment.”; | ||
(t) section 229 shall not apply to a military prisoner sentenced to imprisonment for life; and | ||
(u) the following subsection shall be inserted in section 233 after subsection (2): | ||
“(2A) Any power conferred by rules under this section to release a person temporarily shall not, in the case of a person serving a sentence passed on him on conviction of treason or of murder, or attempted murder, to which section 3 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1990, applies, be exercisable during the period for which the power to mitigate or remit his punishment is prohibited by paragraph (i) of the proviso (inserted by that Act) to section 221 (1) of this Act unless for grave reasons of a humanitarian nature, and any such release shall be only of such limited duration as is justified by those reasons.”. | ||
5. In the Courts-Martial Appeals Act, 1983 — | ||
(a) in sections 26, 28 (2) (c) and 28 (3) (ii) (I) “a capital offence or murder” shall be replaced in each case by “an offence for which a person would be required on conviction to be sentenced to imprisonment for life”; | ||
(b) in section 27 (2) (c) “a capital charge or a charge of murder” shall be replaced by “a charge of an offence for which a person would be required on conviction to be sentenced to imprisonment for life”. |