50 AISA members, activists detained during protest against SIR at Town Hall

Around 50 members of the All India Students’ Association (AISA) and social activists were detained by the police on Saturday when they gathered to stage a protest at Town Hall, demanding the scrapping of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

This comes days after protesters against SIR were detained while marching to the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Karnataka. Protesters and journalists were manhandled, drawing sharp criticism, which prompted both Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar and Home Minister Priyank Kharge to order a review of the police handling of the protests. The Home Minister said he had told the police not to disrupt peaceful protests.

The protesters gathered near Town Hall, where a heavy police force had been deployed and barricades erected to prevent them from holding the demonstration. The police bundled the protesters into two buses and took them to the CAR Grounds on Mysore Road in Chamarajpet, where they were detained for some time before being released.

The protest came after the S.J. Park police rejected the organisers’ request to hold a demonstration outside Town Hall, citing Karnataka High Court guidelines restricting protests and rallies to Freedom Park.

The police said the organisers could hold the protest at Freedom Park after obtaining the necessary permission and complying with the applicable legal requirements. “The Bengaluru police have formally rejected our intimation to protest at Town Hall,” an AISA Karnataka member said. But the protesters gathered in front of Town Hall anyway, only to be detained.

The organisers and activists criticised the State government, alleging double standards over its handling of peaceful demonstrations. They questioned the government’s position, claiming that while the Home Minister had spoken in favour of peaceful protests and condemned police action against protesters in Delhi, the police had prevented their demonstration in Bengaluru. City-based social activist and advocate Narasimhamurthy criticised the police action and said the agitation would continue until the protesters’ demands were met.