The right to protest, and limits in Bengaluru | Explained

Should dissent be confined to a designated site, even when the issue demands that people take their protest to the offices of those responsible?

The story so far

On October 12, as Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi led a protest in Delhi against the SIR and the Election Commission of India, calling on lawyers, students, and others to join from wherever they could, protesters in Bengaluru were stopped from marching to the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Karnataka. More than 100 protesters were allegedly abused, manhandled, and detained by the police.

The CEO’s office had, just days earlier, witnessed an unprecedented sit-in by Karnataka’s Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar and his Cabinet colleagues. Mr. Shivakumar, who also participated in the Delhi protest, and his Cabinet colleagues, sat outside the office of the CEO of Karnataka for over five hours over the reported misuse of Form-7 applications (seeking deletion of names) during the SIR.

The BJP criticised the sit-in, arguing that the CEO’s office is not a designated protest site. Mr. Shivakumar, however, denied that it was a protest. He argued that he was only ‘waiting’ to speak to the CEO.

This is not the first time the police have invoked restrictions on protests to stop people from taking their demands to the streets. How did Freedom Park become Bengaluru’s designated protest site, what does the law actually permit or not permit, and how have the police used the law to deal with dissent?

Why is Freedom Park the designated protest site in Bengaluru?

In Bengaluru, where traffic congestion is a daily concern, protests on public roads came under judicial scrutiny in 2021. 

The Karnataka High Court took suo motu notice of media reports about traffic being paralysed for hours during protests by anganwadi workers and State transport corporation employees on March 2 that year.

A division bench of the Karnataka High Court directed the State Government to frame rules to regulate protests, referring to a Supreme Court judgment on the right to protest and the regulation of public spaces.

The High Court recognised peaceful protest as a fundamental right but said it should not come at the cost of others’ rights. It also noted that Bengaluru had a dedicated protest venue at Freedom Park.

Following the court’s intervention, the Bengaluru Police issued the Licensing and Regulation of Protests, Demonstrations and Protest Marches (Bengaluru City) Order, 2021, under Section 31(1)(o) of the Karnataka Police Act, 1963.

The 2021 order replaced the Licensing and Controlling of Assemblies and Processions (Bengaluru City) Order, 2009, which required prior police licence for public assembly of more than 250 people and processions of more than 25 people, with permission assessed on factors such as traffic and public inconvenience.

The 2021 order introduced a new framework for regulating protests, designating Freedom Park as the main protest venue.