CHENNAI: Eight people, including five lawyers, were booked by the Chennai police on Sunday for drawing kolams' on the roads at Besant Nagar in protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register for Citizens. The police detained them around 7 am when a small group of people were drawing the kolams along with slogans against CAA and NRC.
While the Tamil Nadu police did not resort to arresting people even for massive protests against CAA and NRC which were organised without police permission, the arrest of people who were drawing kolams surprised the activists. Speaking to Express, a senior police officer justified the detention. He said, "It was a preventive detention since they were creating public nuisance, hatred and protesting without permission. Drawing kolam in front of the houses is everyone's wish. Why take up to the road."
The activists had put out posters asking public to join for the unique and peaceful protests against from 7 am to 10 am near the Besant Nagar beach. Soon after they assembled around 7 am on Sunday and started drawing the kolams, a police team came to the spot and detained six persons from the spot. However, one of them was released after police said they found she was not a part of the group engaged in the drawing the kolams.
Police detained them in a community hall in front of the Besant Nagar bus depot. Since they had planned the 'kolam-drawing' protests from 7 am to 10 am, police said they detained them till 10 am.
Three lawyers who went to the police station to enquire the issue on behalf of the detained people, said they were also detained by the police in the same community hall. However, police said only one of the three lawyers was detained because he was "creating a ruckus".
While all of them were released around 10 am, a few hours later police booked all eight, including three lawyers who went to enquire the issue, on charges of unlawful assembly and disobedience to an order of a public servant.
Speaking to Express, one of the three lawyers said, "There is no provision for the police to book someone on the basis of drawing kolam. Though IPC provides wider options to book someone on the basis of any action, they have to prove the intention."