Staging protests not free any more: Police Department

Mangaluru: In accordance with the government directive, the city police have been charging people and organizations planning to hold protests here. According to sources, the charges for holding protests may vary from as little as Rs 500 for simple protests without the use of loudspeakers or any disturbances to as high has Rs 1 lakh for any processions held by the protestors.

As per the government orders issued on October 10, 2018 and November 27, 2018, permission for functions, processions, meetings etc would be given only after the requisite fee is remitted. However, Muneer Katipalla, state president of Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) argues that the government order is applicable only for private programmes and not to his organisation, claiming that the organisation held protest relating to public cause, yet a a sum of Rs 500 was collected for the protest.

In the past, a nominal fee was charged per day for use of loudspeakers unlike now, said Katipalla and feels that the new guidelines are aimed at quelling the dissent.

Mangaluru city police commissioner T R Suresh said that charges being collected are in accordance with the government instructions.