Provided that where a Court‑martial is satisfied that a child of tender years is unable to
understand the nature of an oath or affirmation, it may dispense with the administration of oath or
affirmation.
130. Voting by members:___(1) Every decision of a Court‑martial shall be passed by an absolute
majority of votes ; and where there is an equality of votes on either the finding or the sentence, the
decision shall be in favour of the accused:
Provided that no sentence of death shall be passed without the concurrence, in the case of a
general Court‑martial of at least two‑thirds of the members and in the case of a field general
Court‑martial of all the members of the Court 1[:]
1[Provided further that, where the offence of which an accused is found guilty is an offence liable
to hadd under an Islamic law, the sentence awarded shall be that provided for the offence in that
law.].
(2) In matters other than a challenge or the finding or sentence, the president shall have a second
or casting vote.
131. General rule as to evidence. Subject to the provisions of this Act, the rules of evidence in
proceedings before Courts‑martial shall be the same as those which are followed in Criminal Courts.
132. Judicial notice. A Court‑martial may take judicial notice of any matter within the general,
Naval, Military or Air Force knowledge of the members.
133. Summoning witnesses.___(1) The convening officer, the president of the Court, the judge
advocate, or the commanding officer of the accused person may, by summons under his hand, require
the attendance at a time and place to be mentioned in the summons of any person either to give
evidence or to produce any document or thing.
1 Subs. and added by the Pakistan Air Force (Amdt.) Ordinance, 1984, (38 of 1984), s. 14.
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