THE PRISONERS ACT, 1900

(Act III of 1900)

CONTENTS

PART I

PRELIMINARY

SECTIONS

1.         Short title and extent.

2.         Definitions.

PART II

GENERAL

3.         Officers in charge of prisons to detain persons duly committed to their custody.

4.         Officers in charge of prisons to return writs, etc., after ex­ecution or             discharge.

PART III

(PRISONERS IN PRESIDENCY-TOWNS] OMITTED.

PART IV

EXECUTION OF SENTENCES.

14.       References in this part to prisons, etc., to be construed as re­ferring also to ReformatorySchools.

15.       Power for officers incharge of prisons to give effect to sen­tences of certain            Courts.

16.       Warrant of officer of such Court to be sufficient authority.

17.       Procedure where officer incharge of prison doubts the legality   of warrant sent to him for   execution under this part.

18.       Execution in the Provinces, etc., of certain capital sentence not ordinarily executable there.

PART V

[PERSONS UNDER SENTENCE OF PENAL

SERVITUDE] OMITTED.

PART VI
REMOVAL OF PRISONERS.

28.       References in this Part to prisons, etc., to be construed as referring              also to Reformatory Schools.

29.       Removal of prisoners.

30.       Lunatic prisoners how to be dealt with.

31.       Repealed.

PART   VII

PERSONS UNDER SENTENCE OF TRANSPORTATION

32.       Appointment of places for confinement of persons under sentence of         transportation and removal thereto.

PART   VIII

DISCHARGE OF PRISONERS.

33.       Release, on recognizance, by order of High Court, of prisoner                      recommended for pardon.

PART IX

PROVISIONS FOR REQUIRING THE ATTENDANCE OF
PRISONERS AND OBTAINING THE EVIDENCE

                        Attendance of prisoners in court

34. References in this Part to prisons,    etc.   to be   construed as                 referring also to Reformatory Schools.

35.       Power for Civil Courts to require appearance of prisoner to give                  evidence.      

36.       District Judge in certain cases to countersign orders made under                  section 35.

37.       Power for certain Criminal Courts to require attendance of prisoner             to give evidence or answer to charge.

38.       Order to be transmitted through Magistrate of the district or sub-                division in which person is confined.

39.       Procedure where removal is desired of person confined more than   one      hundred miles from place where evidence is required.

40.       Persons confined beyond limits of appellate jurisdiction of High      Court.

41.       Prisoner to be brought up.

42.       Power to Government to exempt certain prisoners from operation    of         this Part.

43.       Officer in charge of prison when to abstain from carrying out          order.

            Commissions for Examination  of Prisoners

44.       Commissions for Examination of Prisoners.

45.       Commissions for examination of prisoners beyond limits of appellate jurisdiction   of High Court.

46.       Commission how to be directed.

            Service of Process on Prisoners

 47.      Process how served on prisoners.
 48.      Process served to be transmitted at prisoner'srequest. 

            Miscellaneous.

49.       [1][Omitted].

50.       Deposit of costs.
51.       Power to make rules under this part.
 52.      Power to declare who shall be deemed officer in charge of prison   

53.      [2][Repealed].

            THE FIRST SCHEDULE.

            THE SECOND SCHEDULE.

            [3][THE THIRD SCHEDULE] (Repealed).

[PRISONERS ACT, 1900
(Act III of 1900)
[2nd February, 1900]

 AN

ACT

to consolidate the law relating to Prisoners confined by
            order of a Court

            WHEREAS it is expedient to consolidate the law relating to prisoners confined by order of a Court;

            It is hereby enacted as follows :—

PART   1
PRELIMINARY

            (2) [4][It extends to the whole of Pakistan].

  (3)[5][ *   *   *]

(a)    "Court" includes a Coroner and any officer      lawfullyex­ercising civil, criminal or   revenueJurisdiction; and

(b)         "Prison" includes any place which has been declared by the [6][Provincial Government], by general or special order, to be a subsidiary jail.

PART-II

GENERAL

PART-III— [PRISONERS IN THE RESIDENCY-TOWN.]
Omitted by A.O.,1949, Sch.

PART—IV.

[7][EXECUTION OF SENTENCES]

15.[8][Power of officers in charge of prisons to give effect tosentences ofcertain Courts:--

Officers in charge of prisons may give effect to any sentence or order or warrant for the detention of any person passed or issued by any  Court ortribunal, whether within or without Pakistan, es­tablishedby law.

(2) Pending a reference made under sub-section (1), the prisoner shall be detained in such manner and with such restrictions or mitigations as may be specified in the warrant or order –

(a)          has sentenced any parson to death, and,

(b)               being of opinion that such sentence should, by  reason of there being in such territory no secure place for the confinement of such       person or no suitable appliances for his execution in a decent and humane manner, be executed in[17][Pakistan][18] [* * * ],has issued its warrant for  the execution of such sentence to the officer     incharge of a prison in [19][Pakistan [20] [* * * ],

            such officer shall, on receipt of the warrant, cause the execution to be carried out at such place as may be prescribed therein in the same manner and subject to the same conditions in all respects as if it were a warrant duly issued under the provisions of section 381 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898.

               (2)The prisons of which the officers incharge are to execute sentences under any such warrants as aforesaid [21][shall in each Province be such as the Provincial Government] may, by general or special order, direct.

(3)A Court shall be [22][deemed, for the purposes of this section, to be a Court established by the [23][Federal Government] if the presiding Judge, or if the Court consists of two or more Judges, at least one of the Judges, is an officer of the [24][Government] authorized to act as such Judge by [25][X X X] the [26][Federal Government]:

            Provided that every warrant issued under this sub-section by any such tribunal shall, if the tribunal consists of more than one Judge, be signed by a Judge who is an officer of the[27][Government]authorizedasaforesaid.

PART-V— PERSONS UNDER SENTENCE OF PENAL SERVITUDE].

[28][*  *  *]

PART—VI

REMOVAL OF PRISONERS

            (a)        under sentence of death, or

            (b)        under, or in lieu of, a sentence of imprisonment [31][* * *] or

            (c)        in default of payment of a fine, or

            (d)       in default of giving security for keeping the peace or for                              maintaining good  behaviour,

            to any other prison in [32][the Province, or, which the consent of the Provincial Government concerned, to any prison in [33][the other Province], [34][or, with the consent of the [35][Federal Government] to any prison maintained [36][by it for under its authority] in any part of [37][Pakistan].

            [38][(2) Subject to the orders, and under the control of the Prov­incial Government the [39][Inspector-General of Prisons] may in the like manner provide for the removal of any prisoner confined as aforesaid in a prison situate in the area for which he is appointed to any of the prison in such area.

            [40][(3)[41][The Central Government may, by general or special order, provide for the removal of any prisoner or class of prisoners confin­ed in any prison to any other prison in Pakistan maintained by or under the authority of the [42][Federal Government] or of a Provincial Government with the consent to[43][ * * * ] of the Provincial Government concerned.]

(2) Where it appears to the [47][Provincial Government] that the prisoner has become of sound mind, the[48][Provincial Government] shall, by a warrant directed to the person having charge of the prison­er, if still liable to be kept in custody, remand him to the prison from which he was removed, or to another prison within the Province, or, if the prisoner is no longer liable to be kept in custody, order him to be discharged.

            (3) The provisions of section [49][31 of Lunacy Act, 1912 (IV of 1912)] shall apply to every person confined in a lunatic asylum under sub-section (1) after the expiration of the term for which he was ord­ered or sentenced to be detained or imprisoned; and the time during which a prisoner is confined in a lunatic asylum under that sub-section shall be reckoned as part of the term of detention or imprisonment which he may have been ordered or sentenced by the Court to undergo.

            [50][(4) In any case in which the [51][Provincial Government] is competent under sub-section (1) to order the removal of a prisoner to a lunatic asylum or other place of safe custody within the Province, the [52][Provincial Government] may order his removal to any such asylum or place within [53][the other Province] [54][ * * * *] by agreement with the [55][Provincial Government] of such other Pro­vince [56][* * * *]as the case may be; and the provisions of this section respecting the custody, detention, remand and discharge of a prisoner removed under sub-section (1) shall, so far as they can be made applicable, apply to a prisoner removed under this sub-section.]

31. [Removal of prisoners from territories under one Local Government to territories under another Rep. by the Amending Act, 1903 (I of 1903), s. 4 and Sch.III.

                                                [57][PART VII]

                                    PART    VIII
                        DISCHARGE OF   PRISONERS

PART—IX

PROVISIONS FOR REQUIRING THE ATTENDANCEOFPRISONERS AND OBTAINING

                              THEIR EVIDENCE

Attendance of Prisoners in Court

(a)        in a Court subordinate to the District Judge, or
            (b)         in a Court of Small Causes [60][ * * * ]

it shall not be forwarded to the officer to whom it is directed,  or acted upon by him, until it has been submitted to, and countersigned by,—

            (i) the District Judge to which the   Court is   subordinate, or
            (ii) the District Judge within the local limits of whose jurisdic­tion                the Court of Small Causes is situate.

(2) Every order submitted to the District Judge under sub­section (1) shall be accompanied by a statement, under the hand of the Judge of the subordinate Court or Court of Small Causes, as the case may be, of the facts which in his opinion render the order necessary, and the District Judge may, after considering such statement, decline to countersign the order.

Provided that if such Criminal Court is inferior to the Court of a Magistrate of the first class, the order shall be submitted to, and countersigned by, the [61][Session Judge] to whose Court such Criminal Court is subordinate or within the local limits of whose jurisdiction such Criminal Court is situated.

(2) The High Court making an order under sub-section (1) shall send it to the District or Sub-divisional Magistrate within the local limits of whose jurisdiction the person named therein is confined, [63][* * *] and such Magistrate [64][**] shall cause it to be deliver­ed to the officer in charge of the prison in which the person is confined.

(b)               Where the person named in any order made under section 35, section 37 or section 39 appears to be, from sickness or other infirmity, unfit to be removed, the officer incharge of the prison in which he is confined, shall apply to the District or Sub-divisional Magistrate within the local limits of whose jurisdiction the prison is situate, and if such Magistrate, by writing under his hand, declares himself to be of opinion that the person named in the order is, from sickness or other infirmity, unfit to be removed; or

(c)                Where the person named in any such order is under committal for trial ; or

(d)               where the person named in any such order is under a re­mand pending trial or pending a preliminary investigation; or

(e)                where the person named in any such order is in custody for a period which would expire before the expiration of the time required for removing him under this Part and for taking him back to the prison in which he is confined ;

The officer incharge of the prison shall abstain from carrying out the order, and shall send to the Court from which the order has been issued a statement of the reason for so abstaining.

            Provided that such officer as aforesaid shall   not so abstain where—

            (i) the order has been made under section 37; and

            (ii) the person named in the order is confined under committal for trial, or under a remand pending trial or pending a preliminary investigation, and does not appear to be, from sickness or other infirmity unfit to be removed and

            (iii) the place, where the evidence of the person named in the order is required, is not more than five miles distant from the prison in which he is confined.

            Commissions for Examination of Prisoners

                          (a)      where it appears to any Civil Court that the evidence of person confined in any prison within the local limits the appellate jurisdiction of such Court, if it is a High Court, or if it is not a High Court, then within     the local limits of the appellate jurisdiction of the High Court which it is subordinate, who, for any of the causes mentioned in section 42 or section 43, cannot be removed, is material in matter pending before it; or

                       (b)where it appears to any such Court as aforesaid that the evidence of a person confined in any prison so situate and more than ten miles distant from the place at which such Court is held, is material in any such matter;or

                        (c)        where the District Judge declines, under section 36, to countersign an order for removal the Court may, if it thinks fit, issue a commission, under the provisions of the [74][Code of Civil Procedure l908,(V of 1908)] for the examination of the person in the prison in which he is confined.

SERVICE OF PROCESS ON PRISONERS.

                                    MISCELLANEOUS

49.   [76] [*  *  *]

            Provided that, if upon any application for such order it appears to the Court to which the application is made, that the applicant has not sufficient means to meet the said costs and charges, the Court may pay the same out of any fund applicable to the contingent expenses of such Court, and every sum so expended may be recovered by the [77][Provincial Government] from any person ordered by the Court to pay the same, as if it were costs in a suit recoverable under the [78][Code of Civil Procedure. 1908 (Act V of 1908).

(b)               for regulating the amount to be allowed for the costs andcharges of such escort; and

(c)                for the guidance of officers in all other matters connected with the enforcement of this Part.

(2)All rules made under sub-section (1) shall be publishedin the [81][official Gazette] [82][ ***] and shall, from the date ofsuch publication, have- the same force as ifenacted by this Act.

53.    [84][*  *  *].

THE FIRST SCHEDULE
(See sections 35 and 37)

            Court of
To the officer incharge of                             (State name of Prison),
You are hereby required to produce .......   . . . ., now a prisoner in .....under safe and sure conduct before the Court of       at            on

the       day of                        next by                         of the              clock 
in the forenoon of the same day, there to give evidence in a matter now pending before the said Court, and after the said has then and there given his evidence before the said Court or the said Court has dispensed with his further attendance, cause him to be conveyed under safe and sure conduct back to the prison.

The day of 

A. B.

                                                                                                                                                                                                (Countersigned) C. D.

THE SECOND SCHEDULE

(See – section 37)

Court of
To the officer incharge of the                                  (State name of Prison.)
You are hereby required to produce                   now a Prisoner in
Under safe and sure conduct before the Court of    at     on
The                                                      day of                          next by                                    of the

Clock in the forenoon of the same day, there to answer a charge now pending before the said Court, and after such charge has been disposed of or the said Court has dispensed with his further attendance, cause him to be conveyed under safe and sure conduct back to the said prison. 
The                                          day of                          
                                                                                                A. B.
                                                                        (Countersigned) C.D.

[85][* * *]