Civil society groups warn of mass disobedience if Bengaluru protest are restricted to Freedom park

Civil society groups in Bengaluru have demanded that the Karnataka government revoke the order that effectively confines protests to Freedom Park. They warned of a city-wide civil disobedience movement on November 28 if the restriction is not withdrawn by Constitution Day, November 26.

Around 100 members of the Campaign for the Right to Protest, representing trade unions, Dalit, women’s, civil liberties, environmental rights, student and LGBTQ+ groups, met on Monday, October 26, to discuss the restrictions. They resolved to renew their demand for permission to protest at public spaces across the city, including Maurya Circle, Town Hall and Mysore Bank Circle, as well as outside the offices of the authorities they seek to address.

The protest comes after several people were detained over the past few weeks for protesting outside Freedom Park against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

The campaign said the restriction stems from the Licensing and Regulation of Protests, Demonstrations and Protest Marches (Bengaluru City) Order, 2021, issued by the Bengaluru Police Commissioner, and not from a continuing direction by the Karnataka High Court to hold all protests at Freedom Park. It argued that the state government has the power to amend or withdraw the order and is constitutionally obliged to protect the right to peaceful protest.

Advocate Maitreyi Krishnan, president of the All India Lawyers Association for Justice (AILAJ), said the High Court’s interim order of March 3, 2022, restricting protests to Freedom Park ceased to operate when the case was disposed of on August 1, 2022. She said the final order directed authorities to comply with the licensing order but did not require its restrictions to remain unchanged.

Under the Karnataka Police Act, 1963, the police commissioner has the power to issue, modify or cancel the licensing order through the prescribed procedure, the campaign said. It argued that the state government could also act to change the restrictions without violating the High Court’s final directions.

Maitreyi said the restrictions violated the constitutional rights to freedom of speech and peaceful assembly under Articles 19(1)(a) and 19(1)(b). The campaign cited Supreme Court judgments recognising peaceful protest as a fundamental feature of democracy and arguing that public spaces cannot be subjected to arbitrary exclusions. It also questioned the order’s justification on grounds of traffic congestion, saying the restrictions had effectively become a prohibition because requests to protest elsewhere were routinely refused.

Historian and writer Ramachandra Guha criticised the Congress government over the restrictions, calling them hypocritical. He said democratic countries allowed protests in public spaces where they could be seen by the public, and argued that Bengaluru should restore access to venues used before the pandemic.

“In any city of a democratic country, protests take place at a place visible to the general public. Bangalore too must demand that the places we could protest in before the pandemic: Maurya Circle, Town Hall, Mysore Bank Circle or in front of offices of the authorities we want to address. The hypocrisy of the Congress Govt., needs to be called out,” Guha said.

Advocate Vinay Sreenivasa said the meeting was an opportunity to press the government to act, particularly after Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said the right to protest should not be suppressed in Bengaluru while opposition parties and movements were reclaiming public spaces in Delhi. “This is the time for them to withdraw this Order,” he said.

Educationist and writer Niranjan Aradhya questioned the difference in how protests were treated, referring to the police action against young people carrying the national flag from Town Hall to Freedom Park while the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was allowed to march across the city carrying lathis. He said the Congress government, which speaks of protecting the Constitution, should withdraw the order.

Trade union representatives said the restrictions had made it harder for workers to demonstrate. KV Bhat, convenor of the Joint Confederation of Trade Unions, said police had filed FIRs over May Day rallies and made it difficult to obtain permission for demonstrations.

Participants also said police had questioned and intimidated people collecting signatures against the restriction, asking who had authorised the drive.

The campaign passed six resolutions, calling for the restoration of the right to protest, an end to what it described as the Congress government’s double standards, and the quashing of FIRs against people who protested outside Freedom Park. It also resolved to submit memorandums to the state Home Minister and the Bengaluru Police Commissioner and inform them of its next steps if they failed to respond.

The campaign has set November 26, Constitution Day, as the deadline for the government to revoke the licensing order. If it does not, members said they would launch a city-wide mass civil disobedience movement on November 28 and continue their campaign until the restrictions are lifted. The group will also convene another meeting to form a central committee.