1. The present appeal takes an exception to the Judgment and Order passed by the Armed Forces Tribunal (hereinafter referred to as “AFT”) in T.A.No.284 of 2011 whereby, the appeal of the present appellant against the order of Court Martial dated 21.08.2004 was dismissed.

2. The brief facts of the present matter are as follows: Signature Not Verified

Hence, the present appeal.

3. We have heard Mr.B.K.Pal, Ld. Counsel for the appellant and Mr. Vikramjit Banerjee, Ld. Additional Solicitor General, for Union of India.

4. We have perused the material placed on record. Upon perusal of the judgment and order of conviction passed by the Court Martial and confirmed by the AFT, we find no reason to interfere with the findings of fact recorded by the Court Martial as confirmed by the AFT thereby, holding, that the appellant was liable to be convicted for the offence punishable under Section 69 of the Army Act for committing a civil offence of murder.

5. However, insofar as the sentence is concerned, we find, that the case of the appellant deserves to be considered.

6. This Court in the case of Santa Singh vs. The State of Punjab1 has observed thus:

7. The same view has been consistently followed in various judgments of this Court. The recent one being, Gopal Singh vs. State of Uttarakhand2 . No doubt, that this Court in the case of Union of India and others vs. Sadha Singh3 has held, that Section 433­A of the Code of Criminal Procedure , 1973 (“ Cr.P.C .” for short) would also be applicable to a case tried for offence under Section 69 of the Army Act, 1950 and a person who has been imposed with a life sentence cannot be released unless he has actually served 14 years’ of imprisonment, without taking into consideration the remissions earned by him in jail. In other words, if a person is convicted for life, unless he has actually served 14 years’ sentence, he will not be entitled to be considered for release by giving him benefit of remissions earned by him. 2 (2013) 7 SCC 545 3 (1999) 8 SCC 375 6

8. Taking into consideration the various factors, that are taken into consideration by this Court in Santa Singh (supra), we find, that the case of the present appellant deserves to be considered favourably.

9. Undisputedly, the appellant was posted in Kashmir area, at a time when the State was undergoing the threat of terrorism at its peak. The appellant, after the incident, immediately came out of the tent, surrendered himself, and gave an explanation that he had fired the rifle under a delusion that there was a terrorist attack. The conduct and behaviour of the appellant in the jail, as could be seen from the Certificate issued by the Superintendent, District Jail, Dehradun, has been excellent. The appellant has actually served the sentence of 16 years and 6 months as on 6.1.2020. If the benefit of remission is given to him, the period would come to 20 years and 5 months. As such, he has served the sentence for a period of more than 14 years and as such, the bar of Section 433­A Cr.P.C . would also not be applicable.

10. In the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case, we are of the view, that the sentence already served by the appellant is much more than proportionate to the offence proved against him.

11. In that view of the matter, while dismissing the appeal we direct that the appellant be forthwith released from custody.

…....................CJI.

[S.A. BOBDE] .....................J. [B.R. GAVAI] ......................J. [SURYA KANT] NEW DELHI;

MARCH 18, 2020