Section 163 Curbs Around Board Exam Centres

GURUGRAM: District authorities have imposed prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita around Haryana Board examination centres from 1 October to 24 October, covering secondary, senior-secondary and D.Ed papers, with police and centre staff enforcing weapon bans and shop closures during exam hours.

Under the order, carrying weapons is barred within about 500 metres of notified centres. Unauthorised people need valid identity proof to enter centre premises. Photocopy and Xerox shops and cyber cafes near centres must remain closed from 90 minutes before each exam until the paper ends, a measure meant to cut question-paper leaks and proxy attempts.

Section 163 BNSS is the successor frame to the older Section 144 CrPC-style prohibitory orders. It lets the district magistrate restrict assemblies, weapons and specified trades in a defined area for a limited period when public order or exam integrity needs that shield.

What students, parents and shopkeepers must follow

Students should reach centres with admit cards and school ID, avoid carrying banned electronics if the board instructions say so, and keep parents outside the cordon unless the centre allows a waiting zone. Parents who gather in large groups at gates can be moved on under the same order that caps unauthorised entry.

Shopkeepers running photocopy kiosks and cyber cafes within the notified radius must shut for the exam window or risk challan and sealing. The 90-minute pre-exam closure is deliberate: that is when leaked papers, if any, would be copied or messaged out. Legitimate printing for non-exam customers has to wait until the paper finishes.

Police deployments will thicken on morning shift changes when most board papers start. Centre superintendents can call the local station if outsiders press the gate. Force-level contacts sit on https://www.haryanapolice.gov.in/; district notifications and centre lists typically route through https://gurugram.gov.in/.

The order runs through 24 October, matching the board exam calendar window cited in the district note. It is not a citywide lockdown. Markets away from exam centres operate normally. Only the mapped radius around each centre carries the weapon, entry and shop rules.

Similar Section 163 exam shields have been used in past board seasons in Gurugram. What is new for this fortnight is the fresh dated order tying BNSS Section 163 to the October 2026 HBSE and D.Ed timetable, with explicit cyber-cafe and photocopy closures baked in.

Anyone who needs an exemption, such as a medical shop inside the radius that also does photocopying, should seek written clarification from the subdivisional magistrate or centre liaison rather than assume the blanket shop ban skips them. Until then, treat the 90-minute rule as absolute on paper days.

Centre lists change slightly each board cycle as schools are added or dropped. Students should trust the admit-card centre name over social-media maps. If a photocopy shop beside a newly notified centre stays open during a paper, residents can alert the beat officer with the shop board photo and time.

Teachers on invigilation duty were briefed to keep corridors clear and to escalate any outsider with a phone aimed at question papers. The Section 163 shield backs that briefing with a dated prohibitory order police can enforce without waiting for a fresh magistrate call each morning of the exam window.