BENGALURU: Seventy citizens who participated in a walk to peacefully register their resistance to the proposed Sankey Road flyover in February have been booked in a criminal case by Sadashivnagar police.
It may be recalled that after citizens held multiple protests over the project, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) put the proposal on hold and referred the same to Bengaluru Metropolitan Land Transport Authority (BMLTA). BBMP withdrew a letter seeking permission from the Palike's deputy conservator of forests (DCF) to cut trees for the same. The BMLTA is currently scrutinising the project.
On February 19, about 70 citizens, including children, gathered at Sankey Tank park clad in black and sat silently for a brief period. After a while they started to walk on the footpath near the lake. The children and women were seen hugging the trees and tying heart symbols to them. Their demand was to scrap the proposal as its implementation would harm the ecology of the lake. Besides, 30 trees were proposed to be axed for the project.
Police registered an FIR the same day under Sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 341 (wrongful restraint), 283 (obstruction to any person in any public way), 149 (unlawful assembly with common object) of the IPC. The FIR said that the people gathered had not obtained police permission for assembling. While nine of the accused were identified, 60-70 others were described as 'unknown accused".
The fact that the FIR was booked came out after police on March 17 sent notices to two of the nine accused named in the FIR, summoning them for inquiry.
Krishna Paniyam, a citizen who was booked, told TOI that police filed the case to intimidate the public from taking part in peaceful resistance. "The walk was peaceful and none shouted slogans. The public walked, hugged trees and sat in the park. The kids even collected garbage," he said and added that this is unfair to the people who are concerned about Bengaluru's enviornment.
"It is disheartening and shocking to know that a silent walk by my friends and neighbours from the locality was viewed as illegal. So, what does this mean? Do people from the area have no say in what happens around their area? Does it mean while the government uses public money, it cannot be questioned? Government officials are constantly violating the law, the biggest example being the flexes displayed everywhere," said Preeti Sunderajan, who participated in the walk.
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