The District Superintendent of Police has the power to regulate processions on public roads and prescribe routes and times for their passage. This power can be exercised in a bona fide manner, taking into consideration the larger interest of the public and society.

N. P. Singh and Abhiram Singh, JJ. - This application was originally filed on behalf of the petitioners for a writ of mandamus directing the respondents to grant a licence to the petitioners for taking out Ramnavami procession on the basis of the application filed.

2. On 7.3.1986 this Court directed the respondents that the ORDER :should be passed on the application filed on behalf of the petitioners by 20th March, 1986, so that in case the petitioners are desirous to make any grievance against the ORDER :so passed they may challenge the same before this Court. This case was adjourned to 24.3.86.

3. We are informed that a licence has been granted on 15.3.1986 to the petitioners in respect of taking out the Ramnnvarni procession. Now the grievance which has been made on behalf of the petitioners is that the licence has not been granted through the routes for which application had been made.

4. A counter affidavit has been filed on behalf of the Superintendent of Police, Ranchi and the Officer-in-charge of Doranda Police Station. In that counter affidavit, a map has been annexed showing the routes through which the procession has to pass on the basis of the licence granted to the petitioners. The petitioners have no other objection to the said licence except that the procession has not been allowed to pass through Bazar road which connects Yunus Chowk with Jhanda Chowk. The distance of that road is about 468 feet in length and 18 feet in width.

5. On behalf of the petitioners it was urged that there was no reasonable justification on the part of the respondent-authority to deny the right• to the petitioners to take out the procession through the Bazar road aforesaid.

6. From the counter affidavit as well as from the supplementary counter affidavit filed on behalf of the respondents aforesaid it appears that never licence has been granted for taking out the Ramnavami procession through this Bazar road, till today except in the years 1974 and 1978. It has been stated on affidavit by the Officer-in-charge of Doranda Police Station that in the years 1974 and 1978 when the Ramnavami procession was allowed to pass through this Bazar road there was a communal riot and on each occasion one or more persons were killed for which different cases had been registered. From the map it appears that there is a Masjid on this road. The respondents have stated in the counter affidavit that apprehending trouble this year as well, the request of the petitioners to take out the Ramnavami procession through that Bazar road has not been accepted. In that connection a copy of the intelligence report has also been annexed to the counter affidavit to show that if the Ramnavami procession is allowed to pass through that Bazar road, there may be a communal tension or riot.

7. On behalf of the petitioners it was submitted that the petitioners and the persons who are likely to join the Rammavami procession aforesaid have a fundamental right guaranteed under the Constitution to freely assemble and to take out a procession through the roads of the town. There cannot be any dispute that in view of Article 19 of the Constitution all citizens have the right to assemble peacefully and to move freely throughout the territory of India including different roads of the town of Ranchi. But all these rights are subject to reasonable restrictions.

8. Sub-section (1) of section 30 of the Police Act, 1961 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act'), is as follows :-

"The District Superintendent or Assistant Superintendent of Police may, as occasion requires, direct the conduct of all assemblies and possessions on the public roads, or in the public streets or thoroughfares, and prescribe the routes by which, and the times at which, such processions may pass."

In view of the statutory provisions there cannot be any dispute that the District Superintendent of Police has been vested with the powers)o regulate the passing of a procession on the public roads and for that purpose h