Karnataka Home Minister says police directed not to disrupt peaceful demonstration
Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge has ordered police to ensure peaceful demonstrations are not disrupted following a controversial crackdown on protesters in Bengaluru. The move aims to protect the fundamental right to dissent after police manhandled journalists and protesters.
Why it matters
The incident underscores the ongoing friction between state law enforcement and the democratic right to protest in India.
Karnataka Home Minister Priyank Kharge has announced that ‘the handling of the protestors on October 12 by Bengaluru Police will be reviewed’. He added that he has issued instructions to the police to ‘ensure that no peaceful demonstration is disrupted’.
This comes a day after Bengaluru police detained over a 100 persons for trying to march to the office of Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Karnataka to protest against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Police manhandled journalists and photographers, apart from protesters, on a day when Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar was participating in a protest rally against SIR in New Delhi , drawing much ire.
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