Crowd control: SOP to be in force till law is enacted

The High Court of Karnataka on February 23 (Monday) directed that a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Crowd Control and Mass Gathering Management, which was submitted to the court by the State government incorporating suggestions from amicus curiae and others, would be enforced and operated till the government comes with a law for crowd management.

A Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice C.M. Poonacha, issued the direction while disposing of the PIL petition, which was suo motu initiated by the court on the issue of stampede that occurred outside the M. Chinnaswamy stadium on June 4, 2025, which claimed 11 lives.

Can renew petition

However, the court gave liberty to Senior Advocate S. Susheela, who was appointed as amicus curiae in the petition, to renew the petition if the need arose in the future.

The Bench closed the proceedings on the petition after the Advocate-General K. Shashi Kiran Shetty informed it that the Home Department had forwarded the SOP to the Secretary of the Legislative Assembly to place it before the scrutiny committee of the Assembly for reviewing the SOP along with the proposed Karnataka Crowd Control (Managing Crowd at Events and place of Gathering) Bill, 2025.

Pointing out that the measures provided in the SOP are much better when compared to the provisions made in the Bill, Ms. Susheela had suggested that the legislature panel could also take into account measures indicated in the SOP while finalising the Bill.

The State government last year submitted the SOP for the court’s consideration and the Advocate-General in December, 2025, agreed to take suggestions from the amicus curiae and various parties to the petition, including the Karnataka State Cricket Association, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, DNA Entertainment Networks Pvt. Ltd., and others. The government on January 13 submitted revised SOP incorporating several of their suggestions.

Application & digital portal

As per the SOP, organisers of any event, in which 1,000 or more individuals are likely to gather, and procession, in which more than 100 individuals are participating, will have to submit application in the prescribed forms along with the crowd management plan, before the designated police officer.

The SOP proposes to set up a technological platforms and digital portals for applying for permission, obtaining no-objection certificate from various authorities, assessing the application and taking decision on the application within the three days from the date of application.

Social media restriction

The event organiser, the SOP states, shall ensure that no social media posts, or releases in electronic or print media, pertaining to the event, are made in deviation from the terms and conditions of the licence, without prior approval from the licensing authority. The organiser shall also be responsible for addressing and clarifying any misinformation or rumours related to the event, if they arise.

Refresher course

While the SOP deals with how the law-enforcing agencies will have to act from the date of receipt of application for conducting events till the post-event analysis, it also requires all police personnel up to the rank of sub-inspector of police to undergo a mandatory annual refresher course on crowd management based on the SOP.

It has been made clear that “nothing in the SOP replaces the law”, and in case of any inconsistency, the directions issued under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, the orders of the executive magistrates, lawful instructions under the Police Act would prevail.