CrPC Section 132 — Protection against prosecution for acts done under preceding sections

Summary

Sub-section (1) says that a prosecution in a Criminal Court for an act said to have been done under section 129, 130 or 131 may be started only with the required government’s sanction: under clause (a), the Central Government’s sanction is required if the person is an officer or member of the armed forces; under clause (b), the State Government’s sanction is required in any other case.

Under clause (a) of sub-section (2), an Executive Magistrate or police officer acting in good faith under any of the sections mentioned in sub-section (1) is not treated as having committed an offence by doing so.

Under clause (b) of sub-section (2), a person acting in good faith to comply with a request under section 129 or 130 is not treated as having committed an offence by doing so.

Under clause (c) of sub-section (2), an armed forces officer acting in good faith under section 131 is not treated as having committed an offence by doing so.

Under clause (d) of sub-section (2), a member of the armed forces is not treated as having committed an offence by doing an act in obedience to an order that the member was bound to obey.

Clause (a) of sub-section (3) defines “armed forces” for this section and the preceding sections of the Chapter. It means the military, naval and air forces operating as land forces, and includes any other Union armed forces operating that way.

Clause (b) of sub-section (3) defines “officer” in relation to the armed forces. It includes a person commissioned, gazetted or paid as an officer, as well as a junior commissioned officer, warrant officer, petty officer, non-commissioned officer or non-gazetted officer.

Clause (c) of sub-section (3) defines “member” in relation to the armed forces as a person in the armed forces who is not an officer.

Official Text

(1) No prosecution against any person for any act purporting to be done under section 129, section 130 or section 131 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 129 or section 130;

(c) no officer of the armed forces acting under section 131 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 military, 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.

Sections referred to

• CrPC §129 — Dispersal of assembly by use of civil force
• CrPC §130 — Use of armed forces to disperse assembly
• CrPC §131 — Power of certain armed force officers to disperse assembly

Related Judgments

• SMT. SELVI & ORS. vs STATE OF KARNATAKA — Supreme Court of India (2007)
• GENERAL OFFICER COMMANDING vs CBI AND ANR — Supreme Court of India (2012)
• JASVINDER KAUR & ANR. vs STATE& ANR — Delhi High Court (2024)
• Siddharth; Aggarwal; Sr.; Advocate along with Mr. Aman; Nandrajog, Mr. vs DIRECTORATE OF ENFORCEMENT — Delhi High Court (2025)

Old <-> New Code Mapping

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