148. (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.
Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023
Section 141 Imprisonment in default of security
Section 142 Power to release persons imprisoned for failing to give security
Section 143 Security for unexpired period of bond
Section 144 Order for maintenance of wives, children and parents
Section 146 Alteration in allowance
Section 147 Enforcement of order of maintenance
Section 148 Dispersal of assembly by use of civil force
Section 149 Use of armed forces to disperse assembly
Section 150 Power of certain armed force officers to disperse assembly