Section 195 BNS: Assaulting or Obstructing Public Servant When Suppressing Riot

Section 195 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 protects a public servant who is discharging official duty while endeavouring to disperse an unlawful assembly or suppress a riot or affray. It separately deals with completed acts of assault, obstruction or criminal force and with threats or attempts.

Law in force: The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (Act 45 of 2023) came into force on 1 July 2024, except section 106(2). Section 195 is in force.

Text of Section 195 BNS

195. Assaulting or obstructing public servant when suppressing riot, etc.

(1) Whoever assaults or obstructs any public servant or uses criminal force on any public servant in the discharge of his duty as such public servant in endeavouring to disperse an unlawful assembly, or to suppress a riot or affray, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine which shall not be less than twenty-five thousand rupees, or with both.

(2) Whoever threatens to assault or attempts to obstruct any public servant or threatens or attempts to use criminal force to any public servant in the discharge of his duty as such public servant in endeavouring to disperse an unlawful assembly, or to suppress a riot or affray, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to one year, or with fine, or with both.

Essential Ingredients of Section 195

For Section 195(1) to apply, the alleged act must concern a public servant who is acting in the discharge of duty for the specific purpose of dispersing an unlawful assembly or suppressing a riot or affray. The prohibited conduct is assault, obstruction or use of criminal force against that public servant.

Section 195(2) covers an earlier stage of conduct. It applies to a threat to assault, an attempt to obstruct, or a threat or attempt to use criminal force against the public servant while the public servant is performing the same kind of duty.

Scope matters: Section 195 is narrower than a general provision dealing with obstruction of a public servant. The prosecution must connect the public servant's duty to dispersal of an unlawful assembly or suppression of a riot or affray.

Relevant Legal Definitions

Assault - Section 130 BNS

Section 130 treats a gesture or preparation as assault when it is made with the requisite intention or knowledge and causes a person present to apprehend that criminal force is about to be used against that person.

Criminal force - Section 129 BNS

Section 129 covers intentional use of force without consent for committing an offence, or with intent or knowledge that the force is likely to cause injury, fear or annoyance.

Force - Section 128 BNS

Section 128 explains when a person is said to use force to another, including causing motion, change of motion or cessation of motion, directly or through substances or other means described in the provision.

Unlawful assembly - Section 187 BNS

Section 187 governs unlawful assemblies and membership of such assemblies. It includes an assembly of five or more persons when the common object falls within any of the purposes specified in Section 187(1).

Rioting - Section 191 BNS

Under Section 191, rioting arises when force or violence is used by an unlawful assembly, or by a member of it, in prosecution of the assembly's common object.

Affray - Section 194 BNS

An affray is committed when two or more persons, by fighting in a public place, disturb the public peace.

Punishment, Cognizability, Bail and Court

The First Schedule to the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 classifies the two parts of Section 195 differently.

Provision	Conduct	Punishment	Cognizable	Bailable	Triable by
Section 195(1)	Assaulting or obstructing a public servant, or using criminal force, while the public servant is suppressing riot, affray or dispersing an unlawful assembly	Imprisonment up to 3 years, or fine of not less than Rs. 25,000, or both	Yes	Yes	Magistrate of the First Class
Section 195(2)	Threatening to assault, attempting to obstruct, or threatening or attempting to use criminal force in the same circumstances	Imprisonment up to 1 year, or fine, or both	No	Yes	Any Magistrate

Difference Between Section 195(1) and Section 195(2)

Section 195(1) addresses the completed conduct of assaulting, obstructing or using criminal force.
Section 195(2) addresses threats or attempts relating to assault, obstruction or criminal force.
The maximum imprisonment under sub-section (1) is three years; under sub-section (2), it is one year.
Sub-section (1) carries a minimum fine of Rs. 25,000 where fine is imposed under the statutory formulation; sub-section (2) specifies no minimum fine.
Under the BNSS First Schedule, sub-section (1) is cognizable and sub-section (2) is non-cognizable. Both are bailable.

Official Resources

For authoritative statutory text and procedural classification, consult the official Government of India sources. The BNS text should be read together with the BNSS First Schedule for cognizability, bail and the court competent to try the offence.

This page is a general legal information resource. For application of Section 195 to a particular FIR, charge, bail proceeding or trial, the facts and the other provisions invoked should be examined together.