The Tamil Nadu government on 3 December 2025 issued a notification under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) making prior sanction from the state mandatory before prosecuting any police personnel of any rank for alleged offences committed while acting, or purporting to act, in the discharge of official duty.
Under the earlier Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), this protection under Section 197 applied only to certain categories of public servants and did not extend to police personnel in the ranks of inspector and below, except inspectors in the ‘Q’ Branch who were covered through a special provision in the Tamil Nadu Police (Discipline & Appeal) Rules. With the central BNSS replacing the CrPC, Section 218 now becomes the corresponding provision governing prosecution sanctions.
The BNSS, as notified by the central government, provides this protection to members of the armed forces through Section 218(2), while other public servants fall under Section 218(1). The law also grants states the discretion to extend the same safeguard to their police forces through Section 218(3), which empowers state governments to apply sub-section (2) to their personnel via notification.
Exercising this enabling power, Tamil Nadu’s Home Department has now directed that the requirement of prior sanction under Section 218 shall apply to “all the classes and categories of police personnel of the Tamil Nadu Police charged with the maintenance of public order, wherever they may be serving.”
Officials said the move ensures continuity of protections previously available under the CrPC while expanding them to cover all ranks within the police force under the BNSS regime.
The notification comes against the backdrop of a July 2024 Madras High Court division bench ruling that Section 197 protections under the old CrPC could not be extended to inspectors or those below them, making the new state-level notification significant in restoring and broadening the shield for police personnel.
Source: The New Indian Express
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