ABSTRACT

“If everyone is thinking alike, then somebody isn't thinking.”1

The right to assembly and right to communicate ideas has been one of the oldest rights of man.
The right has played a pivotal role in the world’s most remembered social movements that
brought a wind of change. The right of assembly is also very closely associated with freedom
of speech; for unless people can freely come together to discuss important questions, the right
to speak is but an empty privilege. However, it is impractical to allow intemperate assembly
and unbridled discussion. As rightly called by Abraham Lincoln, the right of peaceful assembly
is regarded as a constitutional substitute to revolution. Unlawful assembly is the gathering of
persons for the purpose of committing a criminal act in a manner likely to terrify the public.
The extent to which a government penalizes disorderly assemblies often reflects the political
value that it places on the right of assembly. The paper aims to trace the mechanics involved
in the freedom of assembly. First, we look at the development of freedom of assembly as a vital
right and the flip side of public tranquillity; unlawful assembly and riot. Second, we look at the
control mechanism i.e. an attempt to link the constitutional right and the domestic criminal
jurisprudence. Third, we undertake a study on dynamics in mentality of a mob so as to
understand the factors of delinquency. Finally, we propose suggestions for improvements in
the law controlling right to assembly in India.

Keywords: Assembly, Crime, Delinquency, Right, Public Tranquillity.

1
George S. Patton; available at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/george_s_patton_130444