Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Feb 14: In a significant order passed on Thursday February 13, the state high court said that the order passed by the city police commissioner, invoking provisions of section 144 for three days from December 18, 2019 in the city, at a time when protests were being held against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) of the central government, was illegal.

A division bench of the high court passed this order, after hearing public interest litigation filed by Congress Rajya Sabha member Rajeev Gowda, MLA Soumya Reddy, PUCL and others, seeking to withdraw the said order.

The bench observed that the order passed by police commissioner Bhaskar Rao, was illegal and it does not stand the test of law. But, as the term of the order has already expired, the high court said, it cannot uphold the request of the petitioners to annul the order. It partly upheld the prayers by just making the observation that the said order was illegal and against law.

The high court said that while the police commissioner has the right to enforce section 144, he needs to hold proper inquiry about its need and collect opinions, both of which were not done in this case. It observed that as per the Supreme Court order, peaceful protests can be held and it is a fundamental right. "The Supreme Court has said that the people have the right to hold peaceful protests, bandhs, road blockades, processions etc peacefully. The Bengaluru police, who gave permission to hold protests against the CAA, later enforced section 144 to subvert this permission, which is tantamount to snatching away fundamental rights of the protesters," it said.