Section 135A — Exemption of members of legislative bodies from arrest and detention under civil process
A legislative privilege. No member of Parliament or a State / Union-territory legislature may be arrested or detained in prison under civil process during the continuance of a meeting of the House, a committee, or a joint sitting — and for the forty days before and after it (1). The shield is temporary: on release the liability revives, and he may be re-arrested (2).
How to read Section 135A
The privilege (1)
A legislator is not liable to civil arrest or detention while the House, committee or joint sitting he belongs to is meeting — so legislative duty is not obstructed.
The 40-day window
The protection runs not only during the meeting but for forty days before and after it — a generous buffer around each session.
It is only a pause (2)
Release under (1) does not wipe out the liability. Once the window closes, the person is liable to re-arrest and further detention as before.
The bare Act
(1)2 No person shall be liable to arrest or detention in prison under civil process—
(2) A person released from detention under sub-section (1) shall, subject to the provisions of the said sub-section, be liable to re-arrest and to the further detention to which he would have been liable if he had not been released under the provisions of sub-section (1).
1 Section 135A inserted by Act 23 of 1925, s. 3.
2 Sub-section (1) substituted by Act 104 of 1976, s. 45, for the earlier sub-section (1) (w.e.f. 1-2-1977).
In short: a sitting legislator cannot be civilly arrested or imprisoned while his House, committee or joint sitting is meeting — or in the 40 days on either side. But this only suspends the liability: once that window passes, he can be re-arrested.
→ The exemption is from civil arrest/detention only — not criminal. It protects the discharge of legislative duty, which is why it tracks meetings (of the House, of committees, of joint sittings) and brackets them with 40 days. Sub-section (2) makes clear it is a shield, not a discharge: the debt and the liability survive.
Key terms decoded
Being taken or held in custody under a court’s civil process (e.g. in execution). The exemption is from this — not from criminal arrest.
A member of either House of Parliament, a State Assembly / Council, or a Union-territory Assembly — protected during that body’s meeting.
A member of a committee of the House / Legislature — protected during the committee’s meeting.
Protection during a joint sitting, meeting, conference or joint committee of the Houses of Parliament or of a State Legislature with both Houses.
The privilege brackets each protected meeting / sitting / conference with a 40-day buffer on each side.
Release under (1) is temporary. When the window ends, the person is liable to re-arrest and the further detention he would otherwise have faced.
The picture — a shield around each sitting, then it lifts
§ 135A protects the legislator at work, not the debt he owes. It wraps each meeting, committee and joint sitting in a 40-day shield on either side — then, by sub-section (2), lets the ordinary liability return the moment that shield lifts.
Part by part — the two sub-sections
Sub-section (1) names three grounds on which a legislator is shielded — as a House member (a), a committee member (b), or at a joint sitting (c) — and runs the shield through the meeting plus 40 days on each side.
No person shall be liable to arrest or detention in prison under civil process…
A flat immunity from civil arrest and imprisonment — for the persons and during the periods that (a), (b) and (c) set out. Criminal process is untouched.
if he is a member of—(i) either House of Parliament, or (ii) the Legislative Assembly or Legislative Council of a State, or (iii) a Legislative Assembly of a Union territory…
Protected during the continuance of any meeting of that House, Assembly or Council.
if he is a member of any committee of…
A member of a committee of either House of Parliament, a State / UT Assembly, or a State Council — protected during the continuance of any meeting of such committee.
…during the continuance of a joint sitting, meeting, conference or joint committee of the Houses of Parliament or, Houses of the State Legislature…
Protection during joint proceedings of the Houses of Parliament, or of a State Legislature having both Houses.
…and during the forty days before and after such meeting, sitting or conference.
The shield is not confined to the sitting itself — it extends 40 days before and 40 days after, giving the member a clear buffer around legislative business.
Sub-section (2) keeps the privilege honest: it suspends the liability, it does not cancel it. When the protected window ends, the creditor’s remedy revives in full.
A person released from detention under sub-section (1) shall, subject to the provisions of the said sub-section…
Any release the privilege requires is conditional — it is the protection talking, not a discharge of what the person owes.
…be liable to re-arrest and to the further detention to which he would have been liable if he had not been released under the provisions of sub-section (1).
Once the window closes, the person stands exactly where he would have — liable to re-arrest and the further detention the privilege had merely postponed.
How the two sub-sections flow
A shield while the House sits — lifted the moment it does not
Connected provisions
Section 135A completes Part XI’s exemptions group (§§ 132–135A). Where § 135 protects court-goers, § 135A protects legislators — from civil arrest while their House, committee or joint sitting meets, and 40 days each side. It was inserted in 1925 and its sub-section (1) recast in 1976.