`Martial law` is now `military law`

New Delhi: Parliament Wednesday passed a bill to amend the Repatriation of Prisoners Act to replace the words "martial law" with "military law", as the government said the former is not relevant in the Indian context.

The act, which provides for transfer of certain prisoners from India to other countries and to India from abroad, came to force in 2004.

"It is proposed to substitute the words `martial law` of the aforesaid act with the words `military law`, as the expression `martial law` is not relevant in the current Indian context," Home Minister P. Chidambaram said in the Rajya Sabha.

"This expression occurred in the aforesaid act due to oversight at the time of passing the bill in 2003 which needs to be corrected," he said.
IANS