CLAUSES 398, 473,475,479,481 OF BNSS

 

CLAUSES 398, 473,475,479,481 OF BNSS

 

Clause 398 - Witness protection scheme Every State Government shall prepare and notify a Witness Protection Scheme for the State with a view to ensure protection of the witnesses.

 Clause 473 - Mercy Petition in death sentence cases

(1) A convict under the sentence of death or his legal heir or any other relative may, if he has not already submitted a petition for mercy, fi le a mercy petition before the President of India under article 72 or the Governor of the State under article 161 of the Constitution within a period of thirty days after the date on which the Superintendent of the Jail,— (i) informs him about the dismissal of the appeal or special leave to appeal by the Supreme Court; or (ii) informs him about the date of confi rmation of the sentence of death by the High Court and the time allowed to fi le an appeal or special leave in the Supreme Court has expired, and that may present the mercy petition to the Home Department of the State Government or the Central Government, as the case may be. (2) The petition under sub-section (1) may, initially be made to the Governor and on its rejection or disposal by the Governor, the petition shall be made to the President within a period of sixty days from the date of rejection or disposal of his petition. (3) The Superintendent of the Jail or offi cer in charge of the Jail shall ensure, that every convict, in case there are more than one convict in a case, also makes the mercy petition within a period of sixty days and on non-receipt of such petition from the other convicts, Superintendent of the Jail shall send the names, addresses, copy of the record of the case and all other details of the case to the Central Government or State Government for consideration along with the said mercy petition. (4) The Central Government shall, on receipt of the mercy petition seek the comments of the State Government and consider the petition along with the records of the case and make recommendations to the President in this behalf, as expeditiously as possible, within a period of sixty days from the date of receipt of comments of the State Government and records from Superintendent of the Jail. (5) The President may, consider, decide and dispose of the mercy petition and, in case there are more than one convict in a case, the petitions shall be decided by the President together in the interests of justice. (6) Upon receipt of the order of the President on the mercy petition, the Central Government shall within forty-eight hours, communicate the same to the Home Department of the State Governnment and the Superintendent of the Jail or offi cer in charge of the Jail.  ((7) No appeal shall lie in any Court against the order of the President made under article 72 of the Constitution and it shall be fi nal, and any question as to the arriving of the decision by the President shall not be enquired into in any Court.

Clause 475 - Power to commute sentence

The appropriate Government may, without the consent of the person sentenced, commute— (a) a sentence of death, for imprisonment for life; (b) a sentence of imprisonment for life, for imprisonment for a term not less than seven years; (c) a sentence of imprisonment for seven years or ten years, for imprisonment for a term not less than three years; (d) a sentence of rigorous imprisonment, for simple imprisonment for any term to which that person might have been sentenced; (e) a sentence of imprisonment up to three years, for fi ne.

Clause 479 - Bail & Bond

 In this Sanhita, unless the context otherwise requires,— (a) "bail" means release of a person accused of an offence from the custody of law upon certain conditions imposed by an offi cer or court including execution by such person of a bond or a bail bond. (b) "bond" means a personal bond or an undertaking for release without payment of any surety; (c) "bail bond" means an undertaking for release with payment of surety.

Clause 481 - Maximum period for which undertrial prisoner can be detained

(1) Where a person has, during the period of investigation, inquiry or trial under this Sanhita of an offence under any law (not being an offence for which the punishment of death or life imprisonment has been specifi ed as one of the punishments under that law) undergone detention for a period extending up to one-half of the maximum period of imprisonment specifi ed for that offence under that law, he shall be released by the Court on bail: Provided that where such person is a fi rst-time offender (who has never been convicted of any offence in the past) he shall be released on bail by the  Court, if he has undergone detention for the period extending up to one-third of the maximum period of imprisonment specifi ed for such offence under that law: Provided further that the Court may, after hearing the Public Prosecutor and for reasons to be recorded by it in writing, order the continued detention of such person for a period longer than one-half of the said period or release him on bail bond instead of the personal bond: Provided further that no such person shall in any case be detained during the period of investigation, inquiry or trial for more than the maximum period of imprisonment provided for the said offence under that law. Explanation.—In computing the period of detention under this section for granting bail, the period of detention passed due to delay in proceeding caused by the accused shall be excluded. (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), where an investigation, inquiry or trial in more than one offence or in multiple cases are pending against a person, he shall not be released on bail by the Court. (3) The Superintendent of jail, where the accused person is detained, on completion of one-half or one-third of the period mentioned in sub-section (1), as the case may be, shall forthwith make an application in writing to the Court to proceed under sub-section (1) for the release of such person on bail.