BNSS Section 151 — Protection against prosecution for acts done under sections 148, 149 and 150

Summary

No prosecution can be started in any criminal court for actions that were supposedly done under sections 148, 149, or 150, unless the required government sanction is obtained. If the person is an officer or member of the armed forces, the sanction must come from the Central Government; in all other cases, the sanction must come from the State Government. Additionally, certain people are not considered to have committed an offence for such actions if they acted in good faith: an Executive Magistrate or police officer acting under those sections; a person following a lawful requisition under section 148 or 149; an officer of the armed forces acting under section 150; and a member of the armed forces obeying an order they were bound to obey. The section defines “armed forces” as the army, naval, and air forces operating as land forces, including any other Union armed forces so operating, and defines “officer” and “member” accordingly.

Official Text

(1) No prosecution against any person for any act purporting to be done under section 148, section 149 or section 150 shall be instituted in any Criminal Court except—

(a) with the sanction of the Central Government where such person is an officer or member of the armed forces;

(b) with the sanction of the State Government in any other case.

(2)

(a) No Executive Magistrate or police officer acting under any of the said sections in good faith;

(b) no person doing any act in good faith in compliance with a requisition under section 148 or section 149;

(c) no officer of the armed forces acting under section 150 in good faith;

(d) no member of the armed forces doing any act in obedience to any order which he was bound to obey, shall be deemed to have thereby committed an offence.

(3) In this section and in the preceding sections of this Chapter,—

(a) the expression “armed forces” means the army, naval and air forces, operating as land forces and includes any other armed forces of the Union so operating;

(b) “officer”, in relation to the armed forces, means a person commissioned, gazetted or in pay as an officer of the armed forces and includes a junior commissioned officer, a warrant officer, a petty officer, a non-commissioned officer and a non-gazetted officer;

(c) “member”, in relation to the armed forces, means a person in the armed forces other than an officer.

Related Judgments

• SC (2025) Vol.6 p.545 — Supreme Court of India (2025)
• SC (2025) Vol.5 p.730 — Supreme Court of India (2025)
• SC (2024) Vol.7 p.979 — Supreme Court of India (2024)
• .. Petitioner/Accused No.12 vs The State of Tamilnadu, — Madras High Court ()
• SC (2025) Vol.11 p.291 — Supreme Court of India (2025)
• SC (2025) Vol.2 p.1588 — Supreme Court of India (2025)
• SC (2025) Vol.1 p.1469 — Supreme Court of India (2025)
• SC (2025) Vol.10 p.131 — Supreme Court of India (2025)

Old <-> New Code Mapping

• CrPC §132 — Protection against prosecution for acts done under sections 148, 149 and 150