Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 · Chapter XI: Maintenance of Public Order and Tranquillity · A.—Unlawful assemblies
Section 148: Dispersal of assembly by use of civil force
In plain words
An Executive Magistrate, a police station officer, or in their absence a police officer not below sub-inspector, can order an unlawful assembly, or any assembly of five or more persons likely to disturb the public peace, to disperse. Its members must then disperse.
- If it does not disperse, or shows it will not, the Magistrate or officer can disperse it by force, ask civilians (not armed forces members acting as such) to help, and arrest and hold participants.
A simplified explanation, prepared with AI assistance from the official text below and checked automatically against it for numbers and cross-references. The official text is the law and prevails over this summary. Not legal advice.
Official 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.
Corresponding sections were matched by comparing the wording of both official texts, and for the IPC and BNS, also against a published correspondence table. Wording, punishments and structure often changed, so read both sections before relying on the match.
Source: India Code (indiacode.gov.in), the consolidated text published by the Legislative Department, Government of India. Text as updated on India Code on 12 September 2026. Words in square brackets [ ] were inserted or substituted by later amending Acts, and *** marks words omitted by an amendment. The amendment footnotes are not reproduced here. Official text on India Code.
Supreme Court judgments citing the section 148
No Supreme Court judgment in our database cites this section yet.