ARMED FORCE TRIBUNAL

The Armed Forces Tribunal Act, 2007, which governs the Indian military court, is known as the Armed Forces Tribunal. The Armed Forces Tribunal is a quasi-judicial body designed to handle service and disciplinary issues, particularly for the Indian Army, Indian Air Force, and Indian Navy. Each of these armed forces is governed by a specific oriented Act, which the Tribunal must abide by to function and issue rulings and orders.

Jurisdiction of Armed Forces Tribunal | Powers/Functions

The Armed Forces Tribunal is empowered to adjudicate appeals against any order, decision, finding or sentence passed by a court-martial or any matter connected therewith or incidental thereto.
The tribunal is empowered to grant bail to an accused who is in military custody. The bail so provided can be with or without conditions as the tribunal may decide.
The circumstances for the tribunal to allow the appeal against court martial orders are:

The court martial findings are legally not sustainable.
The court martial findings include wrong decisions on questions of law.
Miscarriage of justice due to material irregularity.
The Armed Forces Tribunal can take the following actions over the order of the court-martial:
- Remit the whole sentence or a part of a sentence with or without conditions
- Mitigate the awarded punishment
- Commute the punishment to a lesser one or even enhance it.
- Release the appellant on parole with or without conditions.
- Suspend the sentence of imprisonment
- Modify order as it thinks appropriate
The Armed Forces Tribunal acts as a criminal court for the purposes of relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Chapter XXVI of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.