Dispersal of assembly by use of civil force
AI Assist
Summary
An Executive Magistrate, the officer in charge of a police station, or a police officer not below sub‑inspector may order any unlawful assembly or any group of five or more likely to disturb public peace to disperse. Members must disperse. If they refuse or show determination not to disperse, the magistrate or police may use force, call civilian assistance (not armed forces), and arrest or confine members to disperse them or enable prosecution.
Example
Ravi runs a roadside tea stall. Six neighbours gather, start shouting and blocking the road, and the station officer orders them to disperse. They refuse, so the police use force, call nearby civilians for help, and arrest those who still refuse to disperse.
Bare Act
Enacted text(1) Any Executive Magistrate or office in charge of a police station or, in the absence of such officer in charge, any police officer, not below the rank of a sub-inspector, may command any unlawful assembly, or any assembly of five or more persons likely to cause a disturbance of the public peace, to disperse; and it shall thereupon be the duty of the members of such assembly to disperse accordingly.
(2) If, upon being so commanded, any such assembly does not disperse, or if, without being so commanded, it conducts itself in such a manner as to show a determination, not to disperse, any Executive Magistrate or police officer referred to in Sub-Section (1), may proceed to disperse such assembly by force, and may require the assistance of any make person, not being an officer or member of the armed forces and acting as such, for the purpose of dispersing such assembly, and, if necessary, arresting and confining the persons who form part of it, in order to disperse such assembly or that they may be punished according to law.
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