until it has received the approval of 1[an officer having power to convene a district court martial].
128. Transmission of proceedings of a summary Court martial. The proceedings of every
summary Court martial shall without delay be forwarded to 2[an officer having power to convene a
district court martial], and such officer, or any higher authority, may, for reasons based on the merits
of the case but not on any merely technical grounds, set aside the proceedings or reduce the sentence
to any other sentence which the Court might have passed [ : ]3
3[Provided that a sentence awarded as hadd under any Islamic law shall not be so mitigated,
remitted or commuted otherwise than in accordance with such law.].
129. Substitution of a valid finding or sentence for and invalid finding or sentence.___(1)
Where a finding of guilty by a Court martial, 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 143 to commute the punish ment awarded by
the sentence, if the finding had been valid, may substi tute a new finding, if the new finding could
have validly been made by the Court martial on the charge and if it appears that the Court martial
must have been satisfied of the facts establishing the offence specified or involved in the new finding,
and may pass a sentence for the said offence.
(2) Where a sentence passed by a Court martial which has been confirmed, or which does not
require confirmation, not being a sentence passed in pursuance of a new finding substituted under
subsection (1) is found for any reason to be invalid, the authority referred to in the sub section may
pass a valid sentence.
1 Subs. by the Pakistan Army (Amdt.) Act, 1963 (9 of 1963), s. 4, for “an officer not below the rank of brigadier, who may be empowered in this behalf by the CommanderinChief”.
2 Subs. by the Pakistan Army (Amdt.) Act, 1958 (11 of 1958), s. 11, for “an officer not below the rank of brigadier, who may be empowered in this behalf by the CommanderinChief”.
3 Subs. and added by the Pakistan Army (Amdt.) Ordinance, 1984 (36 of 1984), s. 17.
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