155. Courts of Inquiry under section 107 for the purpose of determining the illegal absence of persons subject to the Act. - (1) A court of inquiry under section 107 shall, when assembled, require the attendance of such witnesses as it thinks sufficient to prove the absence and other facts specified as matter of inquiry in that section. (2) The court of inquiry shall take down the evidence given by them in writing and at the end of proceedings shall make a declaration of the conclusions at which it has arrived in respect of the facts it is assembled to inquire into. (3) The court of inquiry shall examine all witnesses who may be desirous of coming forward on behalf of the absentee, and shall put such questions to them as may be desirable for testing the truth or accuracy of any evidence they have given, and otherwise for eliciting the truth, and the court in making its declaration shall give weight to the evidence of all such witnesses. (4) The court of inquiry shall administer the same oath or affirmation to the witnesses as if the court were a court-martial, but the members of such court shall not themselves be sworn or affirmed. (5) The commanding officer of the unit to which the absent person belongs shall enter in the court-martial book of the unit a record of the declaration of the court, and the original proceedings will be destroyed. (6) Any person, the subject of the inquiry, shall be entitled to a copy of the declaration of the court, to be supplied by the person having custody of the court-martial book, on payment at the rate laid down in sub-rule (7) of rule 156.
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