JUDGMENT

ABHAY S. OKA, J.

FACTUAL ASPECTS

1. The appellant who was at the relevant time Lance Naik in the Indian Army was convicted by the Court Martial for the offence punishable under Section 302 of the IPC (for short, ‘IPC’) read with Section 69 of the Army Act, 1950 (for short, ‘the Army Act’). The Court Martial sentenced the appellant to suffer imprisonment for life. The Court Martial also dismissed the appellant from service. Thereafter, the appellant filed pre-confirmation and additional pre-confirmation petitions which were rejected by the Major General Officer Commanding by his order dated 28th September 2005. Thereafter, the appellant filed a petition to the Chief of the Army Staff who rejected the same by his order dated 12th June 2006. Thereafter, the appellant filed a Petition under Article 226 read with Article 227 of the Constitution of India and Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for short ‘CrPC’) before the Hon’ble High Court of Punjab and Haryana. The High Court transferred the matter to the Armed Forces Tribunal, Chandigarh. By the impugned judgment, the Armed Forces Tribunal, Chandigarh dismissed the Petition and confirmed the conviction and sen