The Supreme Court on Thursday (January 22, 2026) refused to pass an order on a PIL seeking directions to prepare and implement SOPs to prevent stampedes during large public gatherings, including religious events, political rallies and yatras.
The bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul M. Pancholi was hearing the case. The bench allowed the petitioner to pursue this matter before the Union Home Ministry and the Election Commission. At the beginning of the hearing, the CJI raised basic questions regarding the scope of judicial intervention in matters related to crowd management and law and order.
The court said that in the petition filed by Tumbalam Gooty Venkatesh, a request has been made to direct the Center to prepare and implement a binding Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) regarding crowd management and safety during public events involving gathering of a large number of people.
The court said, ‘It has been requested to issue similar instructions to implement SOP in political rallies to be held across the country while the code of conduct is in force. The petitioner has also requested to prepare a National Crowd Management Safety Code. The bench said, ‘The petitioner had raised these issues in the representation given on December 18, 2025.’
The court said that a request is being made to issue guidelines for policy formulation for which experts from law and order enforcing agencies are more suitable. The Court also said that the petitioners have already approached the Ministry of Home Affairs, therefore we consider it appropriate to dispose of the petition at this stage so that the petitioners can pursue their representation before the Union of India and they can also give a copy of this representation to the Election Commission… We leave it to the competent authority to consider the representation if they deem fit.
During the hearing, the court asked, ‘Can we give such instructions?’ In response to this question, the petitioner’s lawyer said that the court has earlier also intervened in such policy-related matters in which the lives of vulnerable people were in danger. He cited an earlier PIL related to homeless mentally disabled persons in which the court had directed to make SOP.
CJI Surya Kant said, ‘Suppose some people want to protest in Delhi using their fundamental right. We can regulate it in such a way that no one is troubled and at the same time freedom of expression is also protected, but if it is said that a rally is to be held in Chennai, 10,000 people can come to the ground but 50,000 reach, then what should we do?
The court said that the representation was given on December 18 and the petition was prepared for filing in the Supreme Court on December 21. CJI Surya Kant, while disposing of the PIL, said that the officers should be given some time to breathe.
Also read:-
‘Instead of hanging, injection or electric chair should be used’, SC reserved its decision on the petition filed regarding the method of death penalty.
