Section 144 crpc

Hello and welcome back to another listen listen Section 144 of the CRPC is back in news again it is being alleged that this Section was misused by the center as a weapon for political purposes against critics at the national and state levels so in today's discussion we shall try and understand more about Section 144 its historical background the need for this law Supreme Court guidelines on the issuance of this law and the implications Section 144 has now become very familiar to people thanks to its recent invocations by the police forces

What is Section 144 CRPC

This Section was invoked in order to contain the massive public protests against the recently passed citizenship Amendment Act so what is Section 144 then C guys basically Section 144 is an exceptional power of the state machineries borrowed from the colonial land and why I say exceptional is because it gives unfettered powers to the state machineries to impose restrictions or sanctions against an individual or the whole public in general now who can issue orders under Section 144 of the CRPC see this section gives power to a district magistrate or a sub divisional magistrate or any other executive magistrate on behalf of the state government to issue orders

And please note here that such orders can be issued to an individual or the general public in a particular place or area to abstain from a certain act or to take certain order with respect to certain property in his position or under his management now you might all want to ask one question that is can this law not be misused since it is left with the state government to impose based on its own will yes certainly there are concerns over this

And precisely to address these concerns certain conditions have been put in place during the imposition of this law as per this Section the order can be passed only if such magistrate considers that the direction is likely to prevent obstruction annoyance or injury to any person lawfully employed second danger to human life health or safety third disturbance of the public tranquility or a riot or a fray but when we have a closer look we understand that even these conditions were not sufficient to prevent its misuse recently the entire state of Uttar Pradesh the population of nearly 200 million was placed under Section 144 and even Bengaluru police commissioner justified Section 144 saying that fundamental rights can be curbed when inconveniences cost to others see Prevention of a crime or riot is the duty of the administration. 

Section 144 CRPC

Power conferred under Section 144 is absolute in terms of maintaining law and order and once Section 144 of the CRPC sees imposed in any area all civilians are barred from carrying of weapons of any kind including latus sharpest metallic objects or firearms in public places and no order under Section 144 shall remain in force for more than two months but the government may extend the duration of restriction imposed under Section 144 beyond two months but not exceeding six months in one stretch and besides violation of Section 144 is liable for punishment up to three years in jail so this takes us to the next question that is can this power be exercised by the executive officer on a mere subjective satisfaction regarding likelihood of danger and before getting to the answer of that question it needs to be kept in mind that the orders under this provision will lead to the infringement of fundamental rights to freedom of speech expression assembly 

And movement guaranteed under article 19 and hence clearly the orders under Section 144 have to meet the test of reasonable restrictions as per article 19 and please note on this fact here for your problems that is the restrictions mentioned in article 19 are defamation contempt of court decency or morality security of the state friendly relations with other states incitement to an offense public order

And maintenance of the sovereignty and integrity of India and next to ascertain whether a restriction on liberties guaranteed under article 19 is reasonable or not the Supreme Court has developed the test of proportionality here proportionality test is a legal method used by courts especially constitutional courts to decide hard cases that is cases where legitimate rights collide for example the between the DPSP 

And the fundamental rights and in such a case a decision necessarily leads to one right prevailing at the expense of another and in modern dental college case of 2016 the Constitution bench of Supreme Court held that a law imposing restrictions will be treated as proportional only if it is able to satisfy few conditions so as per the Supreme Court such a law imposing restrictions will be treated as proportional only if it is meant to achieve a proper purpose one - if the measures taken to achieve such a purpose are rationally connected to the purpose and lastly only if such measures are necessary.

Section 144 CRPC

This means the law imposing restrictions will not stand if it fails to satisfy these conditions and the Supreme Court did not stop at this to further put some safeguards in puts amitis of 2017 the Supreme Court laid down a four fold test to determine proportionality that is a measure restricting a right must have a legitimate goal second it must be a suitable means of furthering this goal third there must not be any less restrictive but equally effective alternative

Fourth the measure must not have a disproportionate impact on the right holder and these four stages are classified as legitimate goal stage suitability or a rational connection stage necessary stage and lastly the balancing stage so in a nutshell the law imposing restrictions will stand only if it is able to fulfill these conditions that is the conditions imposed under modern dental college case and puts Wommack is so the legality of the orders passed under Section 144 CRPC will be tested on the basis of these principles of reasonableness 

And proportionality and also as held by the Supreme Court mere apprehension of danger is not a sufficient ground to curb citizens rights by invoking Section 144 of the see CRPC this means there should be genuine apprehension of imminent danger and not mere likelihood or tendency now what are the main concerns surrounding this law well in the first place we should be mainly worried because this law was prepared and enacted during the British colonial rule which means the objective of this law then was to suppress the freedom struggle by stifling dissent and opposition so today the contradictory approach of article 19 and the Section 144 of CRPC is a reflection of a colonial legacy

And the unquestioning adoption of most of the provisions of the 1872 Code of Criminal Procedure by the contemporary Indian state now the main concern today is that administration's frequently cite powers under Section 144 of CRPC to prohibit assemblies of five or more individuals or to order mobile phone companies to block voice SMS or Internet communications in one or more small or large geographical areas now recently as protesters against this citizenship amendment act hit the street in large numbers the state government's sought to tamp down on the demonstrations by issuing prohibitory orders under Section 144 and the main criticism surrounding the imposition of Section 144 is that it is too broad.