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00:00I would like to understand this in a simple way.
00:03First of all, can you give us an idea of what it is like here?
00:06Just like in a normal court, a civilian,
00:09whoever is accused,
00:12there is a court scene and a judge is sitting in front of him.
00:15It's the same kind of scene.
00:18And the judge, whoever is accused,
00:21obviously, it's a soldier in a court-martial scenario,
00:24so is there necessarily a senior officer who is the judge?
00:27Basically, it's the same kind of court
00:30like our normal civil court.
00:33But the difference is that
00:36whenever there is a complaint against someone in the army,
00:39the commanding officers get an inquiry done.
00:42When an inquiry is done, they recommend
00:45that this crime has been committed and it should be court-martialed.
00:48When the court has to convene,
00:51when they give the approval
00:54that it should be court-martialed,
00:57then a summary of evidence is recorded.
01:00Summary of evidence means,
01:03there is a summary of the witnesses.
01:06All the witnesses record their statement in the presence of the accused.
01:09The accused has the right to cross-examine.
01:12And when the evidence is ready,
01:15the evidence is on the oath,
01:18that is called a summary of evidence.
01:21Now, the summary of evidence that the officer records,
01:24he makes a chart sheet that according to this summary of evidence,
01:27this crime has been committed.
01:30Now, that chart sheet is given to the convening authority.
01:33The convening authority writes on it that
01:36he is to be tried by FGCM.
01:39And after that, they also convene the same court.
01:42And it is written in the check that
01:45generally, the practice should be that the officer
01:48who is to be tried by FGCM should be a senior to the accused, preferably.
01:51And what is this? Usually, there is only one judge.
01:54In our case, there is a two-member bench, a six-member bench.
01:57So, how many judges are there usually?
02:00Usually, there are four judges.
02:03Three of them are members of the court.
02:06There is a president and two members.
02:09There is a three-member bench.
02:12And there is an advisor of the legal branch,
02:15but there is no advisor.
02:18In our courts, the Chief Justice makes a bench,
02:21or after the practice procedure, three people make a bench.
02:24In the scenario of the court martial, who makes the bench formula?
02:27Who decides that you and you will hear this case?
02:30The convening authority or the formation commander,
02:33they have made this court.
02:36This is their prerogative. They make the court.
02:39Okay. And sir, the way this case has reached a stage today,
02:42that four sheets have been filed against you.
02:45So, whenever an officer's case reaches this stage,
02:48when it is said that four sheets have been filed against you,
02:51then generally, on average, of course, it can vary from case to case,
02:54but on average, how long does it take for four sheets to be filed?
02:57Actually, what happens is that
03:00when it was presented to them in the court today,
03:03the first time it was presented in the court,
03:06they read four sheets and said that there are charges against you.
03:09Right.
03:12And along with that, they gave them time,
03:15that whatever preparation you want to do on this, whatever council you want to do,
03:18we give you 24 hours and after 24 hours the trial will start again.
03:21At that time, they can come and request that
03:24I have to engage a certain council.
03:27He had a right to engage the council of his own choice.
03:30Under Article 10A of the Constitution,
03:33and under Article 10, the right of fair trial,
03:36they will give you 24 hours and that council will be called.
03:39Then that council will argue.
03:42This is a time-taking case
03:45because the evidence against him is more than a dozen,
03:48according to my information,
03:51there are more than a dozen witnesses.
03:54On those witnesses, their defense counsel will argue.
03:57The court cannot tell him to make a brief argument.
04:00He had ample time to cross-examine each and everything.
04:03Even if he takes two days on each witness,
04:06the court cannot compel him.
04:09Whatever he says will be recorded.
04:12So if we assume that he will take as much time as possible,
04:15then how much time will it take?
04:18Yes.
04:21I think it will take three months.
04:24So you are saying that if it seems like
04:27he has taken a lot of time,
04:30then it will take three months.
04:33Three months.
04:36Maximum, right.
04:39Again, let's assume for a moment
04:42that all these allegations are proven.
04:45Because it is also being said that there are witnesses.
04:48On this assumption that the allegations have been proven,
04:51on any person whose court martial is going on
04:54and all these allegations are proven, what is the punishment?
05:09They will write the punishment in that file.
05:12After writing the punishment, they will send it to the convening authority.
05:15The convening authority will give the punishment and evidence
05:18and decide whether the rest of the evidence is correct.
05:21And after that, it will be confirmed.
05:24After confirmation, the next stage of promulgation will come.
05:27It will be annulled.
05:30In these cases, Brigadier Rizwan was first tried.
05:33He was given a death penalty.
05:36There was also a violation of the secret attack.
05:39Then Major Lieutenant General Javed was tried.
05:42He was given a 14-year sentence.
05:45There are still two civilians. They have also been tried under the secret attack.
05:48They have also been sentenced to death.
05:51Now it depends on what quality of evidence comes.
05:54What are their crimes and what are their punishments.
05:57This critical element in which to spread dissatisfaction,
06:00by contacting people,
06:03if it comes against the agency,
06:06it can go up to the death sentence.
06:09The maximum punishment is life imprisonment or death penalty.
06:12What can be the minimum punishment for such crimes?
06:15Minimum?
06:18For me, it can be 10 to 14 years.
06:21Okay.
06:24And when the Pakistan Army is punished,
06:27as you said, it is announced.
06:30Does the head of the Pakistan Army have the right
06:33to forgive the punishment and reduce it?
06:36Absolutely.
06:39This punishment is confirmed by the Army Chief.
06:42Because if any officer is punished,
06:45his confirmation is by the Army Chief.
06:48And if he wants, he can remit at any stage,
06:51he can reduce it.
06:54Okay, at any stage.
06:57There is no limitation.
07:00There is no limitation.
07:27Right.
07:57Okay.
08:27Okay.
08:57No, this cannot be said.
09:00Actually, here in the High Court,
09:03a boy was given life imprisonment.
09:06The High Court suspended his punishment.
09:09The punishment was wrong and the suspender was released.
09:12His case is still going on.
09:15But the court suspended the punishment and released him.
09:18Similarly, in a review of the Supreme Court,
09:21he changed death to life imprisonment.
09:24So, it is close to this.
09:27And if he is suspended from the High Court,
09:30can he go to the Supreme Court?
09:33He can go to the Supreme Court.
09:36There are examples where people went to the Supreme Court
09:39and the Supreme Court reversed the punishment.
09:42Thank you very much, sir.