The Section 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) protects the public servants from frivolous or vexatious prosecution by requiring prior sanction from the Government before they can be prosecuted for acts allegedly committed in the discharge of their official duties and such protection extends even to acts carried out in excess of official duties, as long as there is a reasonable nexus between the alleged act and the discharge of official functions, says the Supreme Court (SC) in G.C. Manjunath v Seetaram [2025 INSC 439].
Any action undertaken by a public officer, even if in excess of the authority vested in them or overstepping the confines of their official duty, would be protected under the Section 197 CrPC, provided there exists a reasonable nexus between the act complained of and the officer’s official functions. A mere excess or overreach in the performance of official duty does not, by itself, disentitle a public servant from the statutory protection mandated by law.
The relied on the judgement in D. Devaraja vs. Owais Sabeer Hussain, [(2020) 7 SCC 695], where it was observed that where a police officer, in the course of performing official duties, exceeds the bounds of such duty, the protection under Section 197 CrPC continues to apply, if there exists a reasonable nexus between the impugned act and the discharge of official functions.
The safeguard of obtaining prior sanction from the competent authority, as envisaged under Section 197 of the CrPC cannot be rendered nugatory merely because the acts alleged may have exceeded the strict bounds of official duty.
References
- G.C. Manjunath v Seetaram [2025 INSC 439]
- D. Devaraja vs. Owais Sabeer Hussain, [(2020) 7 SCC 695]
