The Halasuru Gate police have dropped the case filed against residents of Malleswaram who had participated in a protest against the Sankey Tank flyover and road widening project. Halasuru Gate police said they had submitted a closure report (B-report) in court on May 30. The Karnataka High Court on May 29 had issued a stay order on the investigation into the First Information Report (FIR) against the petitioners who had taken part in a walk against the proposed Sankey road widening and flyover project on February 19.
The police in Malleshwaram constituency had filed an FIR against eight citizens and 70 unknown citizens under sections 341, 141, 149, and 283 of Indian Penal Code (IPC), which pertain to wrongful confinement, unlawful assembly, and obstruction of public way. The police claimed that citizens had violated these sections during a peaceful Sunday morning walk on February 19 to take part in the Save Sankey protest. After citywide opposition to these harsh actions against citizens, the case was transferred to Halasuru Gate police station for an unbiased investigation.
The protest involved a silent march on February 19, and was attended by over 200 residents from Malleshwaram, Vyalikaval, and Sadashivanagar areas of Bengaluru. In the peaceful protest, the citizens wore black and took to social media using the hashtag ‘#SaveSankey’. Later, it was discovered that the Sadashivanagar police had filed an FIR against 70 of the protesters when one of them received a summons notice from the police.
Over the past couple of weeks, the residents of these areas and many others condemned the FIR calling it arbitrary, baseless, and unfair. Though multiple representations were given to the previous BJP government saying that the FIR violated their constitutional rights to freedom of speech, expression, and peaceful assembly, the case was not closed.