CHENNAI: After allegedly refusing to grant permission for Kelu Chennai Kelu, the city police on Sunday stopped Arappor Iyakkam’s indoor programme ‘Know Your Rights’ supposed to be held at Purasawalkam High Road, claimed members of the NGO.
When contacted by Express, a police officer in charge of the jurisdiction denied any police role in stopping the event and charged the NGO members were faking it to gain media attention.
Arappor Iyakkam, a city-based civic activist group, conducts ‘Know your Rights’ sessions across various wards in the city where residents would be trained in the procedures to raise complaints and receive information from various State government agencies.
“For an outdoor protest, we always make sure to get permission from the authorities concerned. This is an indoor meeting. How do the police have rights to stop an indoor meeting?,” said Jayaram Venkatesan, convener of Arappor Iyakkam. The meeting was supposed to be held at a banquet hall at Lumbini Square, Kilpauk.
In what the organisation sees as a clear case of arm-twisting, he added that later on Sunday evening, two police personnel even attended a closed door meeting of lake clean-up volunteers at Arappor Iyakkam’s office in Egmore. “They told us that they got information that we are staging a protest. This is our office and the meeting was for resident volunteers,” he added.
Last month, the organisation moved court after allegedly being denied permission for Kelu Chennai Kelu, a protest against the State government’s handling of the water crisis.
The Madras High Court had then directed the police to grant permission for the protest. “No police personnel were instructed to stop the event that happened. They are only doing it for a publicity stunt since they want everyone to know about their event which is not getting much attention in the media,” said a senior police officer.