You are a police authority in a district where you receive information about a proposed procession by a student’s union in the university. The students are protesting against certain policies of the government which affect the students. Personally you are sympathetic and even supportive of the demands of the students. But you have been approached by the local M.L.A. who wants the proposed procession to be prohibited. This is so, as he suspects that the opposition parties are instigating the students to bring out the procession. He wants the students union leaders to be taken in preventive custody. The university authorities have also requested you not to permit the procession as it will embarrass them. However, the union leaders assure you that the procession will be peaceful. In such a situation you would;

2.5 marks for option (d) 2.0 marks for option (c) 1 mark for option (b) 0 marks for option (a) Rationale/Reasoning (d) ‘Peaceful assembly without arms’ is a fundamental right enshrined in the Constitution. As such a peaceful procession should be permitted unless it is likely to jeopardize the law and order situation. To prevent any law and order breach from taking place, suitable number of police personnel need to be deployed. As such option (d) is the best course of action. (c) Trying to convince the protesters to give up procession and adopt the path of written representation is ideologically sound. But it has practical limitations. The protesters may have already exhausted the option of written representation or might be considering it to be futile. As such option (c) may or may not work. The time and effort lost in persuasion may only end up squeezing the time left with you for making suitable deployment of police force. (b) Permitting the procession with written assurance may be risky. The situation may get out of control of the student union leaders even if the assurance is well meaning. Accordingly, deployment of police force is essential. Besides, even the righteousness of cause, or your personal belief in the issue, cannot permit you to compromise on your official duty. As such option (b) in itself cannot be a sufficient course of action, but can only be a supplement to option (d). (a) Prohibiting the procession or taking union leaders in preventive custody without a substantive basis would be incorrect and also stifling of the fundamental rights. Values/Principles tested  Balance of judgment Discharge of official duties without any personal bias or extraneous influences