ASSAM RIFLES ACT, 1920

Act No. 0 1 of 1920

23rd June, 1920

An Act for the regulation of the Assam Rifles. Whereas it is expedient to amend the law in force in Assam relating to the maintenance of discipline among Assam Riflemen; And whereas the previous sanction of the Governor General has been obtained under section 79(2) of the Government of India Act, 1915, to the passing of this Act; It is hereby enacted as follows:--

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S.1 Title, extent and commencement

(1) This Act may be called the Assam Rifles Act, 1920.

(2) It extends to the whole of Assam including the districts of the Garo Hills, the Khasi and Jaintia Hills, the Naga Hills and the Lushai Hills, the North Cachar subdivision of the Cachar district, the Mikir Hill Tracts in the Nowgong and Sibsagar districts, the Lakhimpur Frontier Tract and the Sadiya and Balipara Frontier Tracts; and

(3) It shall come into force on such day as the [Provincial Government] may, by notification in the [official Gazette] appoint in this behalf.

S.2 Repeal

The Eastern Bengal and Assam Military Police Act, 1912 (Act III of 1912), is hereby repealed.

S.3 Definitions

In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context,--

• (1) "active service" means service at outposts, or against hostile tribes, or other persons in the field;
• (2) "Commandant" or "Assistant Commandant" means a person appointed by the [Provincial Government] to be a Commandant, or an Assistant Commandant, of the Assam Rifles;
• (3) "District Magistrate" includes a Deputy Commissioner, the Superintendent of the Lushai Hills, the Political Agent in Manipur, and the Political Officers, Sadiya and Balipara Frontier Tracts;
• (4) "Rifleman" means a Police Officer appointed under section 7 of Act V of 1861, who has signed the statement in the Schedule to this Act, in accordance with the provisions of this Act, and includes a Military Police Officer appointed under the Bengal Military Police Act, 1892 (Act V of 1892), the Assam Military Police Regulation, 1890 (Regulation IV of 1890), or the Eastern Bengal and Assam Military Polic
  

S.4 Appointment and discharge

(1) Before a police officer appointed under section 7 of Act V of 1861 is appointed to be a rifleman, the statement in the schedule shall be read and, if necessary, explained, to him, in the presence of a Magistrate. Commandant or Assistant Commandant, and shall be signed by him in acknowledgment of its having been so read to him.

(2) Notwithstanding section 9 of Act V of 1861, a rifleman shall not be entitled to be discharged except in accordance with the terms of the statement which he has signed under this Act.

S.5 Classes and rank

There may be all or any of the following classes of riflemen who shall take rank in the order mentioned, namely: --

• (i) Subadars-Major,
• (ii) Subadars,
• (iii) Jamadars,
• (iv) Havildars-Major,
• (v) Havildars,
• (vi) Naiks,
• (vii) Buglers and riflemen,

and such grades in each class as the [Provincial Government] may from time to time direct.

S.6 Heinous offences

A rifleman who--

• (a) begins, excites, causes or joins in any mutiny or sedition, or being present at any mutiny or sedition, does not use his utmost endeavours to suppress it, or, knowing or having reason to believe in the existence, of any mutiny or sedition, does not without delay give information thereof to his Commanding or other superior officer; or
• (b) uses, or attempts to use, criminal force to, or commits an assault on, his superior officer, knowing or having reason to believe him to be such, whether on or off duty; or
• (c) shamefully abandons or delivers up any garrison, fortress, post, or guard, which is committed to his charge, or which it is his duty to defend; or
• (d) in the presence of an enemy or of any person in arms against whom it is his duty to act, shamefully casts away his arms or his ammunition, or intentionally uses words or any other means to induce any other rifleman to abstain from acting against the enemy, or to disco
  

S.7 Other offences including acts prejudicial to good order and discipline

A rifleman who--

• (a) is in a state of intoxication when on or detailed for any duty, or on parade, or on the line of march; or
• (b) strikes, or forces or attempts to force, any sentry; or
• (c) being in command of a guard, picquet or patrol, refuses to receive any prisoner duly committed to his charge, or, whether in such command or not, releases any prisoner without proper authority or negligently suffers any prisoner to escape; or
• (d) being deputed to any guard, picquet or patrol, quits it without being regularly relieved or without leave; or
• (e) being in command of a guard, picquet or patrol, permits gambling or other behaviour prejudicial to good order and discipline; or
• (f) being under arrest or in confinement, leaves his arrest or confinement before he is set at liberty by proper authority; or
• (g) is grossly insubordinate or insolent to his superior officer in the execution of his office; or
• (h) refuses
  

S.8 Minor offences and punishments

(1) A District Magistrate or a Commandant, or subject to the control of the Commandant, and Assistant Commandant, and, subject to the same control, an officer not below the rank of a Jamadar commanding a separate detachment or an outpost or in temporary command of the Rifles at the headquarters of a district during the absence of the District Magistrate, Commandant, and Assistant Commandant, may, without a formal trial, award to any rifleman below the rank of Naik, who is subject to his authority, any of the following punishments for the commission of any petty offence against discipline which is not otherwise provided for in this Act, or which, is not of a sufficiently serious nature to call for prosecution before a Criminal Court, that is to say:--

• (a) imprisonment in the Quarter Guard, or such other place as may be considered suitable, for a term that may extend to 28 days when the order is passed by a District Magistrate or a Commandant or to seven days when it is
  

S.9 Manner imprisonment

Any rifleman sentenced under this Act to imprisonment for a period not exceeding three months shall, when he is also dismissed from the Assam Rifles, be imprisoned in the nearest or such other jail as the [Provincial Government] may, by general or special order, direct, but, when he is not also dismissed from that force, he may, if the convicting court or the District Magistrate so directs, be confined in the Quarter Guard or such other place as the Court or Magistrate may consider suitable.

S.10 Powers of Commandants and Assistant Commandants for enquiring into offences under this and other Acts

Notwithstanding anything in the Police Act, 861, or in any other enactment for the time being in force, the [Provincial Government] may invest any Commandant or Assistant Commandant with the powers of a Magistrate of any class for the purpose of inquiring into or trying any offence committed by a rifleman and punishable under the Police Act, 1861 (Act V of 1861), or this Act, and any offence committed by a rifleman against the person or property of another rifleman and punishable under any section of the Indian Penal Code (Act XLV of 1860) or of any other Act in force in Assam.

S.11 Privileges of Commandants and Assistant Commandants

A Commandant or Assistant Commandant shall be entitled to all the privileges which a Police Officer has under sections 42 and 43 of the Police Act, 1861 (Act V of 1861), section 125 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (Act I of 1872) and any other enactment for the time being in force; and shall, subject to such rules as the [Provincial Government] shall from time to time make in this behalf, exercise all the powers of a District Superintendent of Police within the meaning of the Police Act, 1861 (Act V of 1861).

The [Provincial Government] may, as regards the Assam Rifles, make such orders and rules consistent with this Act, as it thinks expedient, relative to the several matters respecting which the Inspector General of Police, with the approval of the [Provincial Government] may, as regards the Police Force, frame orders and rules under section 12 of the Police Act, 1861 (Act V of 1861).