Article 19 of the Indian Constitution is one of the most important articles constituting the ‘basic freedoms’ guaranteed to every citizen of India. Article 19(1) provides that all citizens shall have the right to freedom of speech and expression, assembly, associations, movement, residence and practicing any trade, business, occupation or profession. Article 19 (1)(b) guarantees to all citizens of India rights “to assemble peaceably and without arms”. This right includes the rights to hold meetings and to take out processions. The right to assembly embodies the very idea of a democratic government. Article 19(1)(b) thus includes the right to hold meetings and to take out processions. However, this right is not absolute but restrictive in nature. The assembly must be non-violent and must not breach public peace. Disorderly and/or riotous assembly will not be protected under Article 19(1)(b) and clause 3 of article 19 would then come into picture. Reasonable restrictions imposed under Article 19(3) are in the interests of sovereignty and integrity of India or public order. Article 19(b) has always been an issue of debate in the country. It has been reviewed, studied and interpreted numerous times by the Supreme Court. Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure also talks about unlawful assemblies. Section 144(6) gives the government the power to make an assembly of 5 or more people in certain cases an unlawful assembly. Chapter viii of the Indian Penal Code lays down that the conditions when an assembly becomes ‘unlawful’. According to this section, an assembly of five or more persons becomes an unlawful assembly if the common object of the persons comprising the assembly is- (a) to repel and resist the execution of any law or legal process, (b) to commit any sort of mischief or criminal trespass, (c) to obtain the possession of any property using force, (d) to impel and coerce a person to do what he is not legally bound to do or omit which he is legally entitled to do, (e) to overawe, that is, to appall and astonish the government by means of criminal force or show of criminal force or any public servant in the exercise of his lawful powers.