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The Tamil Nadu government has issued a notification extending the provisions of Section 218(2) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, to all members of the State police force.
This would mean that sanction from the government would be required to prosecute police personnel of all ranks for any offence allegedly committed by them while discharge of duty.
Though a similar protection existed to employees up to a certain rank under the erstwhile Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), subsequent orders extending it to all others issued a few decades ago could not be traced, police sources said.
Section 218(2) of BNSS states, “No court shall take cognisance of any offence alleged to have been committed by any member of the Armed Forces of the Union while acting or purporting to act in the discharge of his official duty, except with the previous sanction of the Central Government.”
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In an order issued on Wednesday (December 3, 2025), the State government said the provisions of Section 218(2) 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.”
The State invoked powers conferred under Section 218(3) of BNSS, 2023, which states that the State government may, by notification, direct that the provisions of sub-section (2) shall apply to such class or category of the members of the forces charged with the maintenance of public order. The expression “Central Government” occurring in the provision shall be substituted with “State Government”.
On how the notification was different from earlier rules, a senior police officer in the State Police headquarters said, a similar protection was in force under the provisions of Section 197 of the then CrPC and orders issued subsequently.
While it was limited to public servants, where the government was the appointing authority (up to the rank of a Deputy Superintendent of Police), the protection was extended to all other ranks by way of orders or notifications issued about two or three decades ago, which could not be traced now.
The need to seek sanction of prosecution from the government for any police personnel involved in the maintenance of public order was required earlier too, and would continue by way of the notification issued on Wednesday, he said.
However, there would be no change in rules as regards private cases and cases registered by the Directorate of Vigilance an Anti-Corruption booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, amended in 2018, the officer said.
Published – December 04, 2025 03:21 pm IST
