Bengaluru Police Face Criticism Over Curbs on Protests and Public Events

Bengaluru City Police have faced mounting criticism over their handling of public gatherings, demonstrations, and cultural events across the city, including an incident where a stand-up comedy show was forced to move from a venue in Whitefield following opposition from a right-wing outfit.

The scrutiny intensified after the police registered a suo motu First Information Report (FIR) against a woman for holding a placard reading "Umar Khalid Zindabad" and "Sharjeel Imam Zindabad" during a students' protest. Following the incident, All India Students’ Association (AISA) National President Neha Bora criticised the Congress-led Karnataka government during her visit to Bengaluru, stating that parties claiming to oppose the Bharatiya Janata Party must lead by example rather than pay lip service.

The police have also faced accusations of acting with extreme caution and being risk-averse regarding dissent. Officers have repeatedly enforced the Licensing and Regulation of Protests, Demonstrations and Protest Marches (Bengaluru City) Order, 2021, which restricts all protests exclusively to Freedom Park. The order was originally introduced following a suo motu public interest litigation in the High Court of Karnataka over traffic disruptions, coming after anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act demonstrations near Bilal Bagh. Activists have argued that confining demonstrations to Freedom Park isolates and invisibilises dissent, though a campaign to reverse the 2021 order has not yielded results under the current government.

Police intervention has extended to several other public and private gatherings. The department filed three suo motu FIRs against pro-Palestine demonstrators, two of which were subsequently quashed by the High Court of Karnataka. Officers also disrupted multiple indoor meetings where pro-Palestine films and issues were being discussed, citing concerns over potential counter-demonstrations and escalation.

Cultural and academic events have faced similar hurdles. Stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra recently shifted his performance from Whitefield after a Hindutva group opposed the event, though the state government ensured he was able to perform at an alternate venue. At Azim Premji University, the administration filed a criminal complaint against its own students for organising an unsanctioned discussion on the 1991 Kunan Poshpora incident after Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad activists entered and vandalised the campus.

In another instance, police provided security for a discussion on Umar Khalid's book at the Bangalore International Centre after organisers refused to call off the event, before later filing a suo motu FIR against a placard holder following a television media campaign.