Bengaluru police have asked managers of theatres and cultural venues to submit detailed information about plays scheduled on their premises, triggering protests from theatre practitioners, social activists and members of the public who fear the move amounts to censorship.
The notices ask venues to provide details of a play’s storyline, dialogue, objective and the message intended for the public, along with its date, location and timing. Police have also sought the names of the director, producer and organiser, details of preventive measures taken to avoid disruption to public peace and law and order, and documents showing that the required permissions and licences have been obtained.
According to the notice described by Prajavani, the information is being sought from the perspective of “social harmony, public peace and law and order”. Police have told venue managers to cooperate and said that if a play contains illegal elements or is considered capable of disturbing public peace, the matter will be brought to the attention of the relevant authority for action.
The notices follow an incident at Suchitra Cultural Academy in Bengaluru during a performance of ‘The Truth of Gandhi’s Assassination’, written and directed by Addanda Cariappa. The report said that the director’s face was smeared with ink during the performance on October 31. Complaints and counter-complaints were subsequently registered in connection with the play staged at the academy.
Following that incident, police issued a notice to the academy’s management and instructed it to postpone performances until further orders. The notice warned that action could be taken against the academy if any performance resulted in a law-and-order problem. The latest communications to cultural venues extend the information request beyond the specific performance and ask managers to provide advance details about plays being staged at their premises.
The move has prompted criticism on social media, where members of the public, theatre workers and social activists have described it as the beginning of “Emergency 2.0” in the state. That criticism reflects a dispute over the boundary between preventive policing and prior scrutiny of artistic content. The police notices, as reported, seek information about the content and purpose of performances as well as their logistical and permission records; they do not, in the supplied report, describe a new formal censorship law or identify a separate statutory approval process for every play.
For cultural venues, the notices place responsibility on managers to provide information and demonstrate that preventive steps and permissions are in place. They also indicate that police intend to refer performances they consider unlawful or potentially disruptive to the appropriate authority. The immediate issue for theatre organisers is therefore not only whether a performance can proceed, but what information venues must submit before hosting it and how a possible law-and-order concern will be assessed.
The police communication follows the October 31 incident and the resulting complaints at Suchitra Cultural Academy. The notices to venue managers and the instruction to cooperate form the latest reported step in the matter; the supplied report does not state whether the authorities have issued a broader order, created a review committee or cancelled any additional performances.
