Model: prohibitory order under s.163 BNSS

This is the order most likely to be read aloud against you in a courtroom, so it is the one to learn to a fixed skeleton. Everything the section demands — a written order, the material facts stated, a defined direction — must be visible on the face of the document, because a revisional court or a writ bench sees only the document.

When you need this

A festival procession through a mixed locality with a history; rival organisers announcing enlarged events; an exam centre or counting centre needing a sterile zone; a communal flashpoint where provocative messages are circulating; any situation where immediate prevention or a speedy remedy is desirable and the mischief falls under the statutory heads — obstruction, annoyance or injury to a person lawfully employed, danger to human life, health or safety, disturbance of the public tranquillity, or a riot or affray. The order normally issues on the SHO’s and DSP’s reports, after a peace committee where time permits.

The model

PROCEEDINGS OF THE SUB-DIVISIONAL MAGISTRATE, [NAME OF DIVISION] DIVISION
Present: [NAME OF OFFICER], Deputy Collector and Sub-Divisional Magistrate

Procs. Rc.No. [FILE NO.]/[YEAR]-C, dated [DATE]

ORDER UNDER SECTION 163 OF THE BHARATIYA NAGARIK SURAKSHA SANHITA, 2023

Sub:  Law and order — [NAME OF FESTIVAL] festival on [DATE OF EVENT] at
      [NAME OF VILLAGE] village, [NAME OF MANDAL] mandal — apprehension of
      breach of the peace — prohibitory order under s.163 BNSS — Issued.

Read: 1. Report of the Station House Officer, [NAME OF POLICE STATION] P.S.,
         dated [DATE], referring to Cr.No. [CRIME NO.]/[YEAR].
      2. Report of the Deputy Superintendent of Police, [SUB-DIVISION],
         dated [DATE].
      3. Minutes of the peace committee meeting held at [PLACE] on [DATE].

WHEREAS it is reported in the reference 1st read that during the [NAME OF
FESTIVAL] procession of [PREVIOUS YEAR] at [NAME OF VILLAGE], stone-pelting
occurred near [LANDMARK], resulting in injuries to [NUMBER] persons and
registration of Cr.No. [CRIME NO.]/[YEAR] of [POLICE STATION] P.S.;

AND WHEREAS it is reported in the references 1st and 2nd read that the two
organising committees have announced enlarged processions for [DATE OF
EVENT], that messages of a provocative nature concerning the procession are
in circulation in the area including by electronic means, and that a breach
of the peace and danger to human life and safety are apprehended;

AND WHEREAS at the peace committee meeting 3rd read the organisers could not
agree on [POINT OF DISPUTE], and the apprehension reported has not abated;

AND WHEREAS I am satisfied, on the material aforesaid, that there is
sufficient ground for proceeding under section 163 of the BNSS, 2023, that
immediate prevention is desirable, and that the directions hereinafter made
are likely to prevent danger to human life and safety, disturbance of the
public tranquillity, and a riot or an affray;

AND WHEREAS the emergency of the case does not admit of notice being served
in due time on the persons against whom this order is directed, and this
order is accordingly made ex parte;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, [NAME OF OFFICER], Sub-Divisional Magistrate, [NAME OF
DIVISION], in exercise of the powers conferred by section 163 of the BNSS,
2023, do hereby direct that within the limits of [NAME OF VILLAGE] village
and the area within [DISTANCE] thereof ("the notified area"), from [HOUR]
hrs on [START DATE] to [HOUR] hrs on [END DATE]:

1. No assembly of five or more persons shall take place in the notified
   area except the permitted processions and religious observances
   conducted as per para 2 below.

2. Processions shall proceed only along the route shown in the Annexure,
   between [HOUR] and [HOUR] hrs, without halts within [DISTANCE] metres
   of [SENSITIVE PLACE].

3. No person shall carry arms, sticks, spears, glass bottles, stones or
   any article capable of use as a weapon of offence in the notified area.

4. Use of loudspeakers and sound amplifiers is prohibited between [HOUR]
   and [HOUR] hrs, and at all times within [DISTANCE] metres of
   [SENSITIVE PLACE].

5. No person shall make, publish or circulate, in the notified area or
   with reference to the said processions, any statement, rumour or
   report likely to incite violence or promote enmity between groups,
   whether orally, in writing or by electronic means.

6. This order shall not apply to police officers and other public
   servants on duty, funeral processions with prior permission, and
   [OTHER EXEMPTED CLASS].

7. This order comes into force forthwith and shall remain in force up to
   and inclusive of [END DATE] (not exceeding two months from this date),
   unless earlier rescinded or altered.

8. Any person aggrieved by this order may apply to the undersigned to
   rescind or alter it, and shall be given an early opportunity of
   appearing and showing cause against the order.

9. Disobedience of this order is punishable under section 223 of the
   Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.

This order shall be promulgated by service on the presidents of both
organising committees, by affixture at the [POLICE STATION] P.S., the
Tahsil office and the village chavadi, by proclamation by beat of drum in
[NAME OF VILLAGE], and by release of a press note.

                                             [SIGNATURE]
                                             ([NAME OF OFFICER])
                                             Sub-Divisional Magistrate,
                                             [NAME OF DIVISION]
To
  The Station House Officer, [NAME OF POLICE STATION] P.S. — for
  promulgation and enforcement.
Copy to: The District Magistrate and Collector, [DISTRICT]; the
Superintendent of Police, [DISTRICT]; the Tahsildar, [MANDAL]; the
presidents of the two organising committees; stock file.

Anatomy — why each part is there

1. The heading and “Present” line. Section 163 confers the power on the District Magistrate, the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, or an Executive Magistrate specially empowered by the State Government — nobody else. The heading pins the order to a competent authority and a named human being; an order that does not show on its face who passed it, in what capacity, invites the first and easiest challenge.
2. The “Read” list. The section requires a written order stating the material facts. The Read list is where those facts live in verifiable form — police reports by date, the earlier incident by crime number, the peace committee minutes. Every recital in the body should trace to a paper in this list, and every paper here should exist on the file. In revision, the court tests the recitals against these papers.
3. The first two WHEREAS recitals. These are the material facts themselves: what happened before (dated, numbered) and what is apprehended now (reported by whom, on what). An order reciting only “as law and order is likely to be disturbed” states a conclusion, not facts, and dies in revision for that reason alone.
4. The peace committee recital. Not statutorily required, but it shows the graded response: persuasion was tried and the apprehension survived it. Courts weigh proportionality, and this recital is your proportionality evidence.
5. The satisfaction recital. This paragraph does the statutory work: it records that the Magistrate — not the SHO whose draft may underlie the order — considered the material and formed the opinion that immediate prevention is desirable, and it names the statutory heads engaged (danger to life and safety, public tranquillity, riot or affray). Omit it and the order reads as police diktat countersigned.
6. The ex parte recital. Section 163 permits an order without prior notice in cases of emergency or where circumstances do not admit of serving notice in due time — but you must say that this is such a case. An unexplained ex parte order against named persons is vulnerable; this one sentence cures it.
7. The operative direction — area and period. “Within the limits of [VILLAGE] and [DISTANCE] thereof, from [HOUR] on [DATE] to [HOUR] on [DATE]” — the order must be enforceable by a constable and testable by a court, which means its geography and its clock must be exact. A division-wide, open-ended order is the classic overbreadth that gets the whole instrument struck down.
8. Numbered prohibitions, each tied to the apprehension. Assembly, route, weapons, sound, incitement — each para should answer to something recited above. The electronic-means para (5) rests on the express words of s.163 covering electronic communication; note that it prohibits conduct, not connectivity — suspension of telecom services runs under a different legal chain entirely.
9. The exemptions para. Without it, the order technically binds the police enforcing it and the funeral that cannot wait. Exemptions are what make a blanket order proportionate — and their absence is what makes it absurd in cross-examination.
10. The life-of-order para. The order lapses two months from the date it is made; only the State Government may extend it, by notification, up to six months in all. Reciting the expiry date on the face prevents the order outliving its power — and prevents a prosecution under BNS 223 for an act done after lapse.
11. The rescission para. An aggrieved person is statutorily entitled to apply and to be heard. Saying so on the face costs nothing and shows the safety valve was open — a point every defending counsel for the State reaches for first.
12. The penal and promulgation paras. Disobedience is prosecuted under BNS s.223, but only of an order that was promulgated — served, affixed, proclaimed by dandora, publicised. The promulgation para converts publication from an afterthought into a recorded fact; without proof of promulgation the prosecutions all fail.
13. “To” and “Copy to”. The SHO enforces; the DM and SP must know what magisterial paper their bandobast rests on; the committees get actual notice. A copy list is how an order acquires witnesses to its own service.

Adaptation traps

• Photocopying last year’s order. Each order needs its own live apprehension and fresh recitals; the identical text re-issued every occasion, or rolled over every two months, reads as standing legislation by a Magistrate and is treated as abuse.
• Citing “s.144”. Under the BNSS, s.144 is maintenance of wives, children and parents. The power is s.163. An order citing the wrong section is an invitation to have it quashed on the cheapest possible ground.
• Borrowing the police draft whole. Sign it only after the recitals are true of your file — a recited report the file does not contain, or a crime number that turns out to belong to a different incident, destroys the order’s credibility wholesale.
• Using it for a land fight. A possession dispute likely to breach the peace belongs under s.164, with its own written-statement procedure; a named troublemaker needing a bond belongs under ss.126–130. Freezing a private dispute with a s.163 order is the most-litigated misuse.
• Forgetting the extension bar. No SDM “extension endorsement” exists in law. If the tension outlives two months, a fresh order with fresh recitals — or a State Government notification — is the only lawful path.

An illustrative skeleton for learning — always draft from the current Act, Rules and standing instructions, and have your first drafts settled by your senior.