Section 151 — Protection against prosecution for acts done under sections 148, 149 and 150.

(1) No prosecution against any person for any act purporting to be done under section 148, section 149 or section 150 shall be instituted in any Criminal Court except—

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(a) with the sanction of the Central Government where such person is an officer or member of the armed forces;

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(b) with the sanction of the State Government in any other case.

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(2) (a) No Executive Magistrate or police officer acting under any of the said sections in good faith;

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(b) no person doing any act in good faith in compliance with a requisition under section 148 or section 149;

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(c) no officer of the armed forces acting under section 150 in good faith;

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(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.

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(3) In this section and in the preceding sections of this Chapter,—

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(a) the expression “armed forces” means the army, naval and air forces, operating as land forces and includes any other armed forces of the Union so operating;

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(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;

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(c) “member”, in relation to the armed forces, means a person in the armed forces other than an officer.

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