Orders restricting gatherings should be publicised, mere gazette notification won't do: HC

Ahmedabad, Dec 6 (PTI) Notifications restricting public gatherings under the BNSS or the Gujarat Police Act should be given wide publicity for the public's knowledge as merely publishing them in the official gazette is not sufficient, the Gujarat High Court has said.

Justice M R Mengdey passed a direction to this effect on Thursday while setting aside notifications issued under section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure under which an offence had been registered against some people protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in 2019. In the present case, the notifications issued by the authorities violated the fundamental rights of citizens, the HC said.

Section 144 of the CrPC empowered authorities to issue urgent orders banning assembly of four or more persons in public places in certain cases. Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, which replaced the CrPC, contains a similar provision.

The petitioners had challenged the issuance of the notification under section 144 as well as the case registered against them for the protest in Ahmedabad.

The notifications were not publicised sufficiently, and therefore, they were not aware of the prohibitory order, the petition claimed.

"In the present era, mere publication of such notifications or orders in the official gazette would not be sufficient....the public at large has no access to such official gazette. In the era, where several modes of mass communication, including social media platforms are available, it is incumbent upon the respondent authorities to publish such notifications /orders by using such modes," the high court said.

The authorities should take due care in "adhering to the procedural aspects and the inherent safeguards required for exercising such powers, and the notifications /orders issued under these provisions be given wide publicity on social media," the HC directed.

The petitioners had also pointed out that such orders were issued repeatedly, amounting to curtailment of their fundamental right to hold a protest against the elected government in a peaceful manner.

The authorities used notifications under section 144 time and again from 2016 to 2019 to restrain people from gathering in groups of four or more at any place in Ahmedabad city, they said.

In some instances, a notification was issued even when the previous notification was in force to get around the provisions that a notification under section 144 was valid for only two months, the petitioners said.

While the practice of issuing notifications under section 144 of the CrPC had been discontinued in the recent past, similar orders were being issued under section 37(1) of the Gujarat Police Act, they contended.

Further, before exercising these powers, the authorities were required to issue notices to the persons against whom such an order was proposed to be issued. This was not done in their case, the petitioners claimed.

These notifications suppress the legitimate expression of opinion or grievance and curtail fundamental rights, they argued. PTI KA KRK