BNSS 148 — Dispersal of assembly by use of civil force.

Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023

Statutory text

(1) Any Executive Magistrate or officer 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 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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