Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, empowers designated magistrates to issue urgent preventive orders to avert a potential threat to public safety, law and order. The provision is intended to address situations where immediate action is necessary to prevent obstruction, injury, danger to human life or health, disturbance of public tranquillity, riots or affrays.
The provision has come into focus in Delhi and Gautam Buddha Nagar, which includes Noida, amid heightened security arrangements surrounding a proposed protest by the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) at Delhi's Jantar Mantar on October 10.
