Army Act, 1950 · Chapter VII: Punishments
Section 71: Punishments awardable by courts-martial
Punishments may be inflicted in respect of offences committed by persons subject to this Act and convicted by courts-martial, according to the scale following, that is to say,—
(a) death;
(b) transportation for life or for any period not less than seven years;
(c) imprisonment, either rigorous or simple, for any period not exceeding fourteen years;
(d) cashiering, in the case of officers;
(e) dismissal from the service;
(f) reduction to the ranks or to a lower rank or grade or place in the list of their rank, in the case of warrant officers; and reduction to the ranks or to a lower rank or grade, in the case of noncommissioned officers:
Provided that a warrant officer reduced to the ranks shall not be required to serve in the ranks as a sepoy;
(g) forfeiture of seniority of rank, in the case of officers, junior commissioned officers, warrant officers and non-commissioned officers; and forfeiture of all or any part of their service for the purpose of promotion, in the case of any of them whose promotion depends upon length of service;
(h) forfeiture of service for the purpose of increased pay, pension or any other prescribed purpose;
(i) severe reprimand or reprimand, in the case of officers, junior commissioned officers, warrant officers and non-commissioned officers;
(j) forfeiture of pay and allowances for a period not exceeding three months for an offence committed on active service;
(k) forfeiture in the case of a person sentenced to cashiering or dismissal from the service of all arrears of pay and allowances and other public money due to him at the time of such cashiering or dismissal;
(l) stoppage of pay and allowances until any proved loss or damage occasioned by the offence of which he is convicted is made good.
Source: India Code (indiacode.gov.in), the consolidated text published by the Legislative Department, Government of India. Text as updated on India Code on 15 October 2026. Words in square brackets [ ] were inserted or substituted by later amending Acts, and *** marks words omitted by an amendment. The amendment footnotes are not reproduced here. Official text on India Code.
Supreme Court judgments citing the section 71
- Sanjay Marutirao Patil v. Union of India and Others
- Sangeetaben Mahendrabhai Patel v. State of Gujarat and Anr.
- Union of India & Ors. v. Bodupalli Gopalaswami
- Ram Narayan Tiwari v. Union of India & Ors
- State of Haryana v. Balwant Singh
- Union of India and Anr. v. P.D. Yadav
- Union of India and Ors. v. Harjeet Singh Sandhu
- Union of India and Ors. v. Subedar Ram Narain Etc.
- Union of India and Ors. v. Brg. P. K.Dutta (Retd)