HYDERABAD: A day after a Division Bench of the Hyderabad High Court issued an interim order, directing Telangana government to allow protests at Dharna Chowk, near Indira Park, members of an organisation working for welfare of Backward Classes approached the Hyderabad police seeking permission to stage a protest at the site.
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However, police officials informed that they are yet to receive the High Court order and ‘only after examining it’ they will be able to start issuing permissions.For about 20 years, Dharna Chowk has been the venue where people of different organisations and ideologies used to gather to raise their voice over various issues. For the record, around 640 protests were held in 2015 and 616 in 2016. In the first three months of 2017, around 101 protests were held at the venue. But all that came to an end in March that year when the authorities stopped issuing permissions to stage protests at Dharna Chowk, instead designated another site 25 km away from the city for the purpose. Tuesday’s High Court order, directing the State government to permit any lawful Assembly at Dharna Chowk, has come as a big relief to various organisations and rights activists, who welcomed the court’s decision.
In its order, the High Court Division Bench made it clear that any party or persons who intend to hold protests lawfully has to obtain prior permissions from authorities concerned and the latter may impose reasonable restrictions in accordance with the law. On Wednesday, members of an organisation approached the Central Zone DCP office seeking permission to hold protests at Dharna Chowk. Police officials said that though they got to know about the Division Bench’s directions, they are yet to officially receive the orders.‘Dharna Chowk’ will now live up to its name
“There might be some restrictions such as a cap on a number of people who can participate in protests and exact area where protests can be held. Nothing is clear yet and we will only be able to say some clarity only after receiving the High Court order,” a senior police official said. Meanwhile, Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar said: “We will go by directions of High Court”.