Section 17. Protection of acts of Members of the Force.

(1) No suit or criminal proceeding or other legal proceeding shall be initiated against any Member of the Force for anything done by him in good faith under this Act. (2) No court shall take cognizance of any offence alleged to have been committed by a Member of the Force while acting or purporting to act in the discharge of his official duty except with the previous sanction of the Government or such other authority as the Government may, by notification in the Government Gazette, appoint in this behalf. (3) In any suit or proceeding against any Member of the Force for any act done by him in the discharge of his duties, it shall be lawful for him to plead that such act was done by him under the orders of a superior authority. (4) Any such plea may be proved by the production of the order directing the act, and if it is so proved, the Member of the Force shall thereupon be discharged from liability in respect of that act so done by him, notwithstanding any defect in the jurisdiction of the authority which issued such order.