Bengaluru: Why should a resident protesting unsafe roads in Varthur have to travel to Freedom Park? Why should workers, students or citizens demanding accountability be restricted to a single venue? These questions have resurfaced, with protesters challenging restrictions on demonstrations outside Freedom Park and demanding greater freedom to express dissent across Bengaluru.At Freedom Park Sunday, citizens and student activists questioned the rationale behind confining protests to a designated venue, arguing that demonstrations must be visible where the issues arise. The debate has intensified after police detained protesters during Saturday’s demonstrations against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Those detained were subsequently released.“People from different areas should be able to protest across Bengaluru. I don’t agree that only Freedom Park should be the designated area. It’s important to give people that freedom because protesting is their right,” said Mohammad Affan of the state committee of Cockroach Janta Party (CJP).Rahil Ahmed, one of the protesters, argued that designated venues risk sanitising dissent. “These designated sites are more like a sanitised version of what govt wants. Even in front of Vidhana Soudha, we should be able to protest. The freedom to protest whenever and wherever is a democratic right,” he said.The restrictions stem from a Karnataka high court case initiated in March 2021 over the impact of protests on traffic in the city. In March 2022, the court passed an interim order directing that protests, processions and marches across Bengaluru be confined to Freedom Park, while asking authorities to prevent traffic disruption, particularly during rush hours.The court disposed of the case in Aug 2022, directing authorities to comply with the Licensing and Regulation of Protests, Demonstrations and Protest Marches (Bengaluru City) Order, 2021. The order identifies Freedom Park as the designated protest venue but allows the police commissioner to designate other suitable places depending on the situation. It also requires a licence for protests and marches.‘Restore 2009 framework’According to advocate and activist Vinay Sreenivasa, the restrictions go beyond what is necessary to regulate demonstrations. He said the court’s final order directed compliance with the police licensing order rather than independently mandating that all protests be held at Freedom Park.Sreenivasa wants govt to withdraw the restrictive order and restore the 2009 licensing framework, under which, he said, organisers could protest at different locations after intimating police. He also questioned why demonstrations were being centralised when Bengaluru’s civic administration has been decentralised into five city corporations.The restrictions, he said, also reduce the visibility of protests, with barricades at Freedom Park limiting public access. Local issues, he argued, need to be raised where they arise.Student activists echoed the concern. Tarini S, of All India Students’ Association (AISA), said more than 150 women gathered at Town Hall Saturday night despite the risk of detention or dispersal. “They came at 8.30pm to say this is our city and we will protest and raise our voice wherever we want,” she said.Aditi S of AISA, who was detained Saturday and later released, questioned the irony of confining dissent to Freedom Park, which once housed a jail. “It’s like they are putting us in jail to demand what is right,” she said, arguing that citizens should only have to inform the cops before protesting.The activists argued that Article 19 of the Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and expression, and the right to assemble peacefully and without arms, subject to reasonable restrictions.
