Published Oct 12, 2026 | 6:25 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 12, 2026 | 8:57 PM
A police officer at the scene said the detained protesters were taken to the Vidhana Soudha police station.
Synopsis: Around 50–60 anti-SIR protesters were detained near the Karnataka CEO’s office in Bengaluru on Monday, with several women alleging police excesses and manhandling during the detentions. In scenes eerily similar to those unfolding on the streets of Delhi, journalists were also manhandled by the Bengaluru police.
Police detained around 50–60 protesters around 3:30 pm on Monday, 12 October, after they attempted to stage a demonstration near the Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer’s (CEO) office against alleged SIR irregularities. Several journalists covering the protests were also allegedly manhandled by the police. Plain clothed policemen roughing up a photojournalist and snatching their camera was caught on video.
My Vote My Right, a Karnataka-based coalition of more than 40 civil society organisations, including trade unions, women’s groups and human rights organisations, organised the protest. Ironically, the crackdown on anti-SIR protests by Bengaluru police in Congress-ruled Karnataka came on the day LoP Rahul Gandhi was leading the Opposition INDIA bloc’s massive protest against SIR and CEC Gyanesh Kumar in the national capital.
In a media statement, the organisers said they have been campaigning against the SIR since October 2025, arguing that the exercise could lead to large-scale disenfranchisement. The protesters demanded that the SIR be scrapped and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar resign.
The protesters raised slogans such as “SIR down, down”, “Abolish SIR” and “Vote Chor, Gaddi Chor”, as they attempted a sit-in outside Sri Jayachamarajendra College.
The protestors were primarily young men and women. Police initially detained the male protesters and put them into a bus. As the women protesters subsequently attempted to force their way into the college premises, women police personnel intervened, forcibly removed them from the spot and pulled them into a second bus, even as the protesters shouted, “Bengaluru Police down, down!”
Several protesters alleged that police personnel used excessive force while detaining them.
Also Read: Why the Delhi crackdown is a crisis of democracy
Ishita, one of the detained protesters, alleged that police personnel pulled women by the hair and assaulted them despite requests not to use force.
“We were protesting peacefully. We asked them to stop touching us, but they did not listen. They pulled our hair and kicked us. I grew up here, my father grew up here. This is just not okay,” she said.
Another detained protester, Yamuna, questioned the restrictions imposed on their demonstration and alleged that police personnel had manhandled protesters during the detention.
“They wanted to lock us up in Freedom Park. It is our right to protest wherever we want to. They say what we are doing is illegal, but what about the stealing of our votes? Is that not illegal?” she asked.
Yamuna further alleged that women police personnel had dug their nails into protesters while forcibly removing them.
“The policewomen dug their nails into us, and I suffered bruises on my knuckles. Bengaluru Police down, down. This glorification of Bengaluru Police is completely untrue,” she said.
An onlooker who witnessed the detentions criticised the police action, describing it as an assault on the protesters democratic rights.
“People were holding a peaceful protest, but they were manhandled, carried away and beaten. They cannot even express democratic dissent. This is an attack on freedom of speech,” the onlooker said.
A police officer present at the scene said the detainees were taken to the Vidhana Soudha police station.
The Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central Division), Bengaluru, said the protesters were taken into preventive custody because they assembled without permission or prior notice, contrary to the High Court’s directive to hold protests at designated places.
The agitators rejected the police’s request to relocate to Freedom Park, and “hence (they) were taken into preventive custody in accordance with the law, and subsequently released,” the DCP said on X.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
