Ban makes B'luru IIM students defer anti-CAA protest

Students of the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore (IIM-B) deferred a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), in view of the ban order by the city police commissioner, a faculty member said on Thursday.

"In view of the police order, the IIM-B students have postponed the protests. They will hold the protest only after Section 144 is lifted by the police," said associate professor Deepak Malghan in an email to the institute's fraternity.

Called by the post graduate program students, the protest in IIM-B scheduled at 6 p.m. on Thursday was also supposed to be in support of the students of Jamia Millia Islamia and Aligarh Muslim University.

The protest was planned at the main gate of the institute, within the campus boundary at Bannerghatta.

Starting Thursday, a three-day ban on assembly of more than 5 persons was imposed in the city in the wake of all-India shutdown call against the CAA.

Bengaluru police commissioner Bhaskar Rao imposed Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) from 6 a.m. on Thursday to Saturday midnight in view of the shutdown call by social and student organisations.

Earlier, on December 16, IIM-B wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the wake of a police attack on the Jamia university in Delhi.

"We call upon you to not trample the democratic rights of citizens to peacefully protest an unjust law," said a joint IIM-B students and faculty letter addressed to Modi.

The management school asserted that non-violent civil disobedience is at the heart of Indian Republic's foundation and urged Modi to ensure that the students are allowed to protest peacefully.

Meanwhile, police detained 30 students, who were protesting against the new Citizenship law, from the National Law School of India University.

Prannav Dhawan, a student of the Law School said that many of the 30 detained students were later released.

( can be contacted at thambalasharon@gmail.com)

( With inputs from IANS )