Court martial, Union law and death sentences: the three heads of Article 72

National Constitution Law & Courts Polity & Governance

Court martial, Union law and death sentences: the three heads of Article 72

Background

Article 72 gives the President the power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment, and to suspend, remit or commute a sentence. The power does not run over every conviction in the country. It reaches, first, all cases in which a Court Martial passed the punishment or sentence; second, all cases where the offence is against a law relating to a matter to which the Union's executive power extends; and third, all cases of a sentence of death. The Article then protects two other powers that sit alongside it. An officer of the armed forces of the Union on whom a law confers power to suspend, remit or commute a court martial sentence keeps that power. So does a Governor of a State who can suspend, remit or commute a death sentence under a law in force. Article 72 is therefore a clemency power confined to the three heads it lists, and it stands beside the Governor's own power rather than replacing it.

Constitutional provision: Article 72 Office holding the power: The President Forms of relief: Pardon, reprieve, respite, remission, suspension, commutation Three heads covered: Court Martial sentences; offences under laws on Union executive matters; sentences of death Power expressly preserved: A Governor's power over a death sentence

Why it matters for exams: Article 72 fixes the three heads of the President's clemency power, the forms it can take, and the fact that the Governor's own power over a death sentence survives it.

Kerala PSCUPSCSSC

30 October 2026 Source: J. P. Rai, 'Exercise of Pardoning Power in India: Emerging Challenges', The NEHU Journal Vol. XII No. 2 - North-Eastern Hill University institutional repository

In plain words

Reprieve A stay of the execution of a sentence — It postpones the carrying out of a sentence without cancelling it.

Commutation The substitution of a lighter punishment — A sentence is replaced by one of a milder kind.

Court Martial A military court trying members of the armed forces — Article 72 covers its sentences, and a service officer's own power over them is kept intact.