Page:Army Act, 1950 on Gazette of India.pdf/33

THE GAZETTE OF INDIA EXTRAORDINARY (4) When the witness resides in a tribal area, or in any place outside India, the commission may be issued in the manner specified in Chapter XL of the Cede of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (Act V of 1898), or of any corresponding law in force in a Part B State.

(5) In this and the next succeeding section, the expression "Judge Advocate General" includes a Deputy Judge Advocate General.

138. Examination of a witness on commission.—(1) The prosecutor and the accused person in any case m which o commission is issued under section 187 may respectively forward any interrogatories in writing which the court may think relevant to the issue, and the magistrate or officer executing the commission shall examine the witness upon such interrogatories.

(2) The prosecutor and the accused person may appear before such magistrate or officer by counsel or, except in the case of an accused person in custody, in person, and may examine, cross-examine and re-examine, as the case may be the said witness.

(3) After a commission issued under section 187 has been duly executed, it shall be returned, together with the deposition oi the witness examined thereunder, to the Judge Advocate General.

(4) On receipt of a commission and deposition returned under sub-section (3), the Judge Advocate General shall forward the same to the court at whose instance the commission was issued or, if such court has been dissolved, to any other court convened for tho trial of the accused person; and the commission, the return thereto and the deposition shall be open to inspection by the prosecutor and the net used person, and may, subject to all just exceptions, be read in evidence in the case by either the prosecutor or the accused, and shall form part of the proceedings of the court.

(5) In every case in which a commission is issued under section 137, the trial may he adjourned for a specified time reasonably sufficient for the execution and return of the commission.

139. Conviction of offence not charged.—(1) A person charged before a court-martial with desertion may be found guilty of attempting to desert or of being absent without leave.

(2) A person charged before a court-martial with attempting to desert may be found guilty of being absent without leave.

(3) A person charged before a court-martial with using criminal force may be found guilty of assault.

(4) A person charged before a court martial with using threatening language may be found guilty of using insubordinate language.

(5) A person charged before a court-martial with any one of the offences specified in clauses (a), (b), (c) and (d) of section 52 may be found guilty of any other of these offences with which he might have been charged.

(6) A person charged before a court-martial with an offence punishable under section 69 may be found guilty of any other offence of which he might have been found guilty if the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (Act V of 1898), were applicable.

(7) A person charged before a court-martial with any offence under this Act, may, on failure of proof of an offence having been committed in circumstances involving a more severe punishment, be found guilty of the same offence as having been committed in circumstances involving a Jess severe punishment.