Police must publicise punitive orders about public gatherings widely: Gujarat HC

Gujarat High Court, while hearing a matter related to Section 144 of CrPC relating to prohibiting the gathering of four or more people in a specified area to avoid nuisance or apprehended danger, observed that in the present era, mere publication of such notifications or orders in the official gazette would not be sufficient.

The court noted that the public at large has no access to such official gazette. “In the era of mass communication, including social media platforms, it is incumbent upon the authorities to publish such notifications/orders by using such modes,” it said.

 A single judge bench of Justice M R Mengdey directed Commissioner of Police, Ahmedabad, that in future, while exercising such powers available under BNSS or Section 37 of the GP Act (Gujarat Police Act, 1951), due care shall be taken for adhering to the procedural aspects and the inherent safeguards is required for exercising such powers and the notifications/orders issued under these provisions shall be given wide publicity on social media to make the public at large aware about it.

Like Section 144 of CrPC, under Section 37 of GP Act, authorities including the Commissioner and District Magistrate are empowered to temporarily prohibit the carrying of weapons, explosives, corrosive substances, missiles, torches and certain public displays or performances to preserve public order and safety.

The court while taking note of sub-section(2) of section 144 of CrPC noted that in these cases, except the cases of emergency, the authority is also required to issue notice to the affected parties before exercising the powers under section 144 of CrPC. 

The impugned notification related to the present case does not state such an emergent situation prevailing at the relevant point of time and therefore, it was incumbent upon the authorities to issue notice to the affected parties, said the court.

It further noted that prior to resorting to exercise of powers under section 144 of the Code, it was incumbent upon the authorities to take recourse to the other measures available to them under the law for maintenance of peace and tranquility and it was only when those measures were found to be insufficient, the powers in question could have been exercised.

There is nothing on record to indicate that the authorities had even taken recourse to the other measures and it was only upon their failure that the powers in question were exercised, noted the court.

The observations came during the hearing of a 2019 case, where the petitioners were protesting against the implementation of The Citizenship Amendment Act in Ahmedabad. The police authorities had registered an offence against the petitioners for violation of the notification issued under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

The petitioners had argued that such notifications, being issued from time to time, were not published or publicised sufficiently, and therefore, they were not aware about issuance of any such notifications.

The petitioner claimed that since the year 2016 till 2019, such notifications were issued by the authorities from time to time, and issuance of such notifications amounted to curtailment of the fundamental right of the petitioners of holding a protest against the elected government in a peaceful manner.