Bengaluru IIM students defy ban orders, protest CAA

Scores of Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore (IIM-B) students on Thursday evening protested against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), despite police ban and no permission from the school's administration.

MS Narasimhan, dean, administration of IIM-B sent a mail to the students at 5:52 p.m. on Thursday, denying permission for the protest.

"Section 144 (CrPc) is in force, any large gathering with a purpose of protest inside the campus is not allowed. Hence, the institute is not giving any permission for such protest," said Narasimhan to the students, who is also a finance and accounting professor.

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 protest in the management school's campus started at 7 p.m., with more than 100 students taking part.

A photograph went viral in which the students defied both the internal and external ban by laying placards and multiple pairs of footwear outside the institute's main gate, opposing the CAA.

Many students also staged a sit-in protest inside the campus, near the institute's main gate, where a good number of police and journalists were also present.

The students raised their glowing cell phones as part of their demonstration, against the CAA which offers citizenship to persecuted Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains and Parsis from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh, excluding all persecuted Muslims.

Among the protesters, a student in a wheelchair also participated.

Earlier, a section of the students and faculty shilly-shallied on carrying out the protest, with an associate professor even mailing in the morning that the protest has been postponed in view of the police ban order.

By afternoon, interested students and faculty were thinking of not violating the ban order by only groups of three protesting against CAA and in support of the students of Jamia Millia Islamia University and Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).

Ultimately, the protest was carried out in IIM-B, despite a divided opinion among students and other members of the institute.