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 a faculty member in an email to the institute's fraternity, sourced by IANS.

Called by the post graduate programme 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 (AMU).

The protest was planned at the main gate of the institute, within the campus boundary at Bannerghatta in the southern suburb of this tech hub.

Starting Thursday, a three-day ban on assembly of more than 4 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) since 6 a.m. on Thursday to Saturday midnight in view of the shutdown call by social and student organisations.

However, the faculty member who mailed the protest postponement notification has been advised that students' activities should be communicated by students alone, rather than a faculty member.

"It is unfair for a faculty member to assume the role of spokesperson of the students. On the other hand if you are organising the protest and students are participating, it might be fair for you to send the mails," read another faculty member's advisory mail.

In a separate mail to the students' affairs council, a student representative highlighted that speculation and questions are gaining currency regarding the IIM-B protests.

Clarifying that the protest call was not sounded by the entire institute in unity, he said, "The protest would be conducted by a section of the students and/or professors and/or administration staff of IIM-B completely in their individual capacity."

He said the students' affairs council, student clubs and societies and student bodies are not facilitating the protest directly or indirectly.

Questioning the agenda of the protest, the student representative asked for the prevailing confusion pertaining to the protest to be clarified after due diligence, by the interested student or faculty member before starting off with the protest.

He reiterated that a student-led activity must be communicated by a student or the students' affairs council.

"The communication from students' affairs council is to ensure information symmetry and in no way shall be considered as the opinion and/or decision of the student body/community," said the representative.

He also mentioned some guidelines to be adhered to while undertaking the protest, such as individual views not being passed off as the views of IIM-B or the entire student community.

"The protesting group must strictly be comprised of IIM-B fraternity to ensure everyone's safety within the campus," he said.

Not destroying any campus property and restricting the protest within the campus and retaining its cleanliness and greenery are some other guidelines he propounded.

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.IANS