Now Reading: FIR against seven over Bengaluru hotel licence protest
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FIR against seven over Bengaluru hotel licence protest
Bengaluru police have registered an FIR against a man and six others for allegedly protesting outside the Bengaluru North City Corporation (BNCC) office after their hotel business licence application was rejected. The complaint, filed by medical officer Ramu G., states that M.Y. Basappa applied on June 24, 2026 to operate R.P. Restaurant, but the corporation rejected it on August 11, citing the residential zone and a road width of only 7.2 metres.
Basappa had earlier sought a licence for R.P. Bar and Restaurant and Boarding and Lodging in October 2025, which was also rejected in November 2025 after objections from Resident Welfare Associations. On August 18, Santosh and six others allegedly gathered outside the corporation commissioner's office, raised slogans against officials and the government, and obstructed traffic, ignoring a Karnataka High Court order on protests.
The Amruthahalli Police registered a case under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
Indian Opinion Analysis
This is not an isolated case. Across Bengaluru's newly formed city corporations, hundreds of small business licence applications are being rejected under the BBMP Act, 2020, which restricts commercial activity in residential zones. The affected parties are typically small restaurateurs who cannot afford legal challenges. The key test will be whether the Karnataka High Court's 2022 order on protest restrictions is consistently applied to such licence-related demonstrations, or if the police treat this as a routine law-and-order matter. Watch for the next hearing date in the criminal case, which will signal how seriously the courts view the residential-zoning argument versus the right to protest.
Source: thehindu.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above. Methodology and corrections.
