Updated: Saturday May 21, 2016/AsSabt
Sha'ban 14, 1437/Sanivara
Vaisakha 31, 1938, at 06:19:31 PM
The Criminal Law Amendment (
1ACT No. XVII OF 1976
An Act to provide for the trial by a
Special Court of certain offences.
WHEREAS It is expedient to
provide for the trial by a special Court of certain offences affecting the
security, integrity or sovereignty of Pakistan or any part thereof, including
offences of high treason, and for matters connected therewith;
It is hereby enacted as
follows:---
1. Short title, extent
and commencement.—(1)
This Act may be called the Criminal Law Amendment (
(2) It extends to the whole
of
(3) It shall come into
force at once.
2. Definations.—In this Act, unless there is anything
repugnant in the subject or context,---
(a) ”Code” means the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (Act V of
1898);
(b) ”
3. Certain offences
triable by Special Court.—(1)
Any offence punishable under sections 121, 121 A, 122, 123 and 123 A of the
Pakistan Penal Code and any offence punishable under the High Treason
(Punishment) Act, 1973, including an offence of conspiracy to commit any such
offence, whether committed before or after the commencement of this shall be
tried by 3[a
Special Court] in accordance with the provisions of this Act.
(2) No court other than the
(3) If, in the course of a
trial before the Special Court, the Court is of opinion that an accused before
it has committed or appears to have committed any offence other than an offence
referred to in sub-section (1), the Special Court shall record such opinion and
refer such accused for the trial of such other offence to a court having
jurisdiction to try the offence.
4. Special Court.—(1) 3[For
the trial of any of the offences specified in sub-section (1) of section 3, the
Federal Government may, by notification in the official Gazette, set up one or
more Special Courts] composed of three persons each of whom is a Judge of a High
Court, and shall nominate one of the said persons to be the President of the
Special Court.
4[(1 A) The setting up of a Special Court
under sub-section (1) shall not be deemed to affect the jurisdiction of any
other Special Court in respect of the trial of a case pending before such other
Special Court immediately before the setting up of the Special Court.]
1For Statement of Objects and Reasons,
see Gaz. of P., 1976, Ext Pt. II, pp. 349-350.
2Subs. by the Criminal Law Amendment (
2Subs. by the Criminal Law Amendment (
3Subs. ibid., s. 4, for certain words
(w.e.f. 14-9-1977).
4New sub-section (1A) ins. ibid.
(2) If any member of the
(3) If, in the course of a
trial, any member of the
(4) The Special Court shall
not merely by reason of any change in its membership or the absence of any of
its members from any sitting be bound to recall and rehear any witness who has
already given any evidence and may act on the evidence already given or
produced before it.
(5) In the event of any
difference of opinion among the members of the
5. Commencement of
proceedings.—(1) The
Federal Government shall forward to the Special Court, on behalf of the prosecution,
a complaint in the form of a statement of the case to be tried by the Court,
together with a list of the accused persons, formal charges of offences alleged
to have been committed by each one of them and a list of witnesses intended to
be produced in support of each charge.
(2) For the purpose of
taking cognizance of a case under his Act no other complaint would be necessary
under any other law.
(3) The submission of a
complaint or a list of 1[accused
persons or] witnesses or formal charges under sub-section (1) shall not
preclude,---
(a) The Federal Government from submitting an
amended or additional statement of the case or charge at any time before
judgment is pronounced, or
(b) The Federal Government or the prosecution
from submitting additional names of 1[accused
persons or] witnesses at any subsequent stage of the prosecution evidence in
the case.
6. Powers and procedure of Special Court.—(1) The Special Court shall have, in
respect of a case liable by it, all the powers which a High Court has in
relation to trial before it under the Code, but shall, notwithstanding anything
contained in the Code, proceed with the trial in the following manner, namely:---
2[(a) as soon as the accused appear or are
brought before the Special Court, the formal charges referred to in section 5
shall be read and explained to them, and each one of them shaft be asked
whether he is guilty;]
(b) if the aecused pleads guilty, the Special Court shall record
the plea, and may in its discretion convict him thereon;
(c) if the accused pleads not guilty or refuses to plead, or claims
to be tried, the Special Court shall proceed to take all such evidence as may
be produced in support of the prosecution;
1Ins. by the Criminal Law Amendment (
2Subs. by the Criminal Law Amendment (
[Explanation.__For
the purposes of this clause and clause (ee), an accused who refuses to plead or
claims to be tried shall be deemed to be pleading not guilty].
2[(cc) if any accused is added to the list of accused
persons referred to in sub-section (1) of section 5 after the examination of
any witness and if such accused pleads not guilty or refuses to plead, or
claims to be tried, or is not convicted by the Special Court on his plea of
guilty (if made), the Special Court may recall and rehear all such witnesses
whose evidence in its opinion affects such accused;]
(d) on the close of the evidence of the prosecution, the Special
Court shall examine the accused and record his statement as required by section
342 of the Code and, if the accused puts in any written statement, the Special
Court shall file it with the record;
(e) after such statement of the accused as is referred to in
clause (d) is recorded, the
Provided that the Special Court may refuse
to examine or call any such witness, if the Special Court is satisfied that the
accused intends to call or examine such witness to cause vexation or delay or
to defeat the ends of justice;
(f) after all the evidence referred to in the foregoing clauses
is recorded, the
(g) the persons mentioned in the list of accused persons
referred to in 3*
* * section 5 and the offences with which they are charged shall be tried
together;
(h) the proceedings of the special Court shall be recorded under
its direct supervision:---
Provided that, if the special Court so
directs, the evidence of any witness may be taken down in shorthand or
typescript by a person specially appointed for the purpose; and the transcript
of the shorthand or the typescript with necessary corrections shall form part
of the record; and
(i) all orders and proceedings and the
evidence of each witness shall be signed by at least two members of the
1Ins. by the Criminal Law Amendment (
2New clause (cc) ins. by the Criminal Law
Amendment (
3The words “sub-section (1) of” omitted
by the Criminal Law Amendment (
(2) The Special Court shall
have the power to punish any person who obstructs or abuses its process or
disobeys any of its orders or directions, or does anything which tends to
prejudice the case of a party before it, or tends to bring it or any of its members
into hatred or contempt, or does anything which, by law, constitutes contempt
of court, with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months or
with fine which may extend to two hundred rupees, or with both.
7. Place of sitting. The Special court shall hold its
sittings at such place or places as the Federal Government may appoint.
8. Proceedings to be
open. Subject to any
restriction imposed by the
9. Restriction of
adjournments. No
trial before the Special Court shall be adjourned for any purpose unless the
Special Court is of opinion that the adjournment is necessary in the interests
of justice and, in particular, no trial shall be adjourned by reason of the
absence of any accused person due to illness, or if the absence of the accused
or his counsel has been brought about by the accused person himself, or if the
behavior of the accused person prior to such absence has been, in the opinion
of the Special Court, such as to impede the course of justice but, in any such
case, the Special Court shall proceed with the trial after taking necessary
steps to appoint an advocate to defend any such accused person.
10. Special rules of
evidence.—(1) The Special
Court 2[shall
receive] in evidence,---
(a) any statement recorded by a Magistrate,
being a statement made by any person who, at the time of the trial, is dead, or
cannot be found or whose attendance cannot be procured without any amount of
delay or expense which the Special Court considers unreasonable in the
circumstances;
(b) any statement or confession of an accused person recorded
by a Magistrate under the Code, whether before or after the registration of a
case triable by the
(c) any previous judgment of “a
(d) 2[the
judgment and findings of the Supreme Court] on a reference made to it under
sub-section (2) of section 6 of the Political Parties Act, 1962 (III of 1962):---
1Subs. by the Criminal Law Amendment (
2Subs. by the Criminal Law Amendment (
3Subs. ibid., for “the conclusions
arrived at by the Supreme Court in its decision”.
Provided that such statement, confession,
judgment, 1[finding]
or decision is relevant to the trial or proceedings before it.
(2) No objection to any
document or property seized in the course of the investigation being received
or produced in evidence shall be entertained on any ground other than a ground
affecting its admissibility under the Evidence Act, 1872 (I of 1872).
11. Provision for
counsel.—(1) The Federal
Government may appoint one or more persons to conduct the prosecution in a case
forwarded to the Special Court for trial and every such person shall be deemed
to be a public prosecutor for the purposes of the Code.
(2) Where an accused person
is not represented by counsel, the Special Court may, at any stage of the case,
direct that a counsel, being any advocate selected by it after taking into
consideration the views of the accused person, shall be engaged at the expense
of the Federal Government to defend the accused person and may also determine
the fees to be paid to such counsel.
12. Jurisdiction, etc.,
of Special Court not to be questioned.—(1) No Court shall entertain any plea as to the jurisdiction of
the Special Court or as to the legality or propriety of anything done or
purported to be done by the Special Court or order the release under section
491 or section 498 of the Code or any other law of any accused person in a case
triable by the Special Court for so long as the Court is seized of the case.
(2) Save as provided in
sub-section (3), no order, judgment or sentence of the Special Court shall be
called in question in any manner whatsoever in or before any court or other
authority.
(3) Any party aggrieved by
the final judgment of the
13. Act to override all
other laws. The
provisions of this Act shall have effect notwithstanding anything contained in
the Code, the Evidence Act, 1872 (I of 1872), or any other law for the time
being in force.
14. [Repeal.] Omitted by
the Federal Laws (Revision and Declaration) Ordinance, 1981 (XXVII of 1981), s.
3 and Sch,, II.
1Subs. ibid., for “conclusion”.
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