CourtMesh

Section 4: Special powers of the armed forces.

The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958Central Act · Act 28 of 1958

Any commissioned officer, warrant officer, non-commissioned officer or any other person of equivalent rank in the armed forces may, in a disturbed area,―

(a) if he is of opinion that it is necessary so to do for the maintenance of public order, after giving such due warning as he may consider necessary, fire upon or otherwise use force, even to the causing of death, against any person who is acting in contravention of any law or order for the time being in force in the disturbed area prohibiting the assembly of five or more persons or the carrying of weapons or of things capable of being used as weapons or of fire-arms, ammunition or explosive substances;

(b) if he is of opinion that it is necessary so to do, destroy any arms dump, prepared or fortified position or shelter from which armed attacks are made or are likely to be made or are attempted to be made, or any structure used as a training camp for armed volunteers or utilised as a hide-out by armed gangs or absconders wanted for any offence;

(c) arrest, without warrant, any person who has committed a cognizable offence or against whom a reasonable suspicion exists that he has committed or is about to commit a cognizable offence and may use such force as may be necessary to effect the arrest;

(d) enter and search without warrant any premises to make any such arrest as aforesaid or to recover any person believed to be wrongfully restrained or confined or any property reasonably suspected to be stolen property or any arms, ammunition or explosive substances believed to be unlawfully kept in such premises, and may for that purpose use such force as may be necessary.

Where this provision sits

ActThe Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958
Section4
Marginal noteSpecial powers of the armed forces.
JurisdictionCentral
StatusIn force as published by the source

Find the provision, not just read it

The full text above is free, and it stays free. What a free CourtMesh account adds is everything you cannot do by reading one page at a time:

  • Search 49,000+ Central and State enactments by what a provision says, not by its number
  • Jump from any section to every judgment that has applied it
  • Search 300 million+ Indian court records alongside the statute
  • Ask a research agent to find and read the case law on a provision for you

Free account. No card. About a minute to create.

Create a free account

Need this as data, not as a page? The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 is one of 49,000+ enactments on CourtMesh. The Indian court cases API serves the case law that cites these provisions over JSON, with API documentation and plans and pricing. See also the judgment library.