Sections 131 and 132 CrPC: Power of Armed Force Officers to Disperse Assembly and Protection from Prosecution
Sections 131 and 132 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 formed part of Chapter X dealing with maintenance of public order and tranquillity. Section 131 dealt with emergency action by certain armed force officers where public security was manifestly endangered and an Executive Magistrate could not be contacted. Section 132 regulated prosecution for acts purporting to be done under Sections 129, 130 and 131 and also set out specified good-faith protections and definitions.
Section 131 CrPC - Power of Certain Armed Force Officers to Disperse Assembly
Section 131 addressed an exceptional situation in which an assembly manifestly endangered public security and no Executive Magistrate could be communicated with. In such circumstances, a commissioned or gazetted officer of the armed forces could act with the armed forces under his command to disperse the assembly and could arrest and confine persons forming part of it for the purposes stated in the section.
Essential requirements of Section 131
- Public security must be manifestly endangered by the assembly.
- No Executive Magistrate must be capable of being communicated with at that stage.
- The power is given to a commissioned or gazetted officer of the armed forces.
- The officer may use the armed forces under his command to disperse the assembly and may arrest and confine persons forming part of it for the statutory purpose.
- Once communication with an Executive Magistrate becomes practicable, the officer must communicate with the Magistrate and thereafter obey the Magistrate's instructions on whether the action should continue.
Meaning and Scope of Section 131
The provision was designed for an urgent breakdown of ordinary civil control. The power was not framed as a general substitute for the authority of an Executive Magistrate. The duty to contact and thereafter follow the instructions of the Executive Magistrate as soon as communication became practicable was an express statutory limitation on independent action under Section 131.
Section 132 CrPC - Protection Against Prosecution for Acts Under Sections 129 to 131
Section 132 dealt with the institution of criminal prosecution for acts purporting to have been done under Sections 129, 130 or 131. It prescribed prior governmental sanction and separately identified categories of persons whose good-faith acts, or acts done in obedience to an order that a member of the armed forces was bound to obey, would not be deemed offences under the provision.
Prior sanction under Section 132(1)
A prosecution for an act purporting to be done under Section 129, Section 130 or Section 131 could not be instituted in a Criminal Court except with:
- the sanction of the Central Government, where the person was an officer or member of the armed forces; or
- the sanction of the State Government, in any other case.
Good-Faith Protection Under Section 132(2)
Section 132(2) covered an Executive Magistrate or police officer acting in good faith under the specified sections; a person acting in good faith in compliance with a requisition under Section 129 or 130; an armed force officer acting in good faith under Section 131; and a member of the armed forces acting in obedience to an order which that member was bound to obey.
The expression good faith is important because the statutory protection was tied, for several of these categories, to the character in which the act was performed and the circumstances specified by the Code. Section 132 should therefore be read together with Sections 129 to 131 rather than as an isolated immunity provision.
Definitions in Section 132(3)
For Section 132 and the preceding provisions of that Chapter, the Code supplied specific meanings for the expressions "armed forces", "officer" and "member".
Armed forces: the military, naval and air forces operating as land forces, including any other armed forces of the Union so operating.
Officer: in relation to the armed forces, a person commissioned, gazetted or in pay as an officer, including the categories expressly mentioned in the provision such as junior commissioned officer, warrant officer, petty officer, non-commissioned officer and non-gazetted officer.
Member: a person in the armed forces other than an officer.
How Sections 129, 130, 131 and 132 Worked Together
The provisions formed a sequence within the CrPC framework for dispersal of unlawful assemblies. Section 129 dealt with dispersal by use of civil force. Section 130 dealt with use of the armed forces to disperse an assembly. Section 131 addressed the exceptional case in which certain armed force officers could act when public security was manifestly endangered and no Executive Magistrate could be contacted. Section 132 then dealt with sanction for prosecution and the specified statutory protections relating to acts under these provisions.
CrPC Position Before the BNSS
The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 was the procedural criminal law framework under which Sections 131 and 132 operated before the new criminal procedure legislation came into force. For legal research involving older incidents or proceedings, the applicable law and relevant saving or transitional provisions should be examined with reference to the date and nature of the proceeding.
This page is intended as a legal information article and reproduces the substance and operation of the pre-BNSS CrPC provisions in a reader-friendly form. For a matter before a court or authority, consult the applicable statutory text, amendments and case law relevant to the facts and date of the proceeding.