‘Harassed and bullied during Secret Santa event’: Cubbon Reads team after park authority disrupts gathering in Bengaluru

The Horticulture Department, that manages Cubbon Park said that the religious events are not allowed inside the park and claimed that people were shouting.

The Department of Horticulture that maintains Bengaluru’s Cubbon Park confiscated books on Saturday from the members of Cubbon Reads, a reading community that often gathers at the park. The members of Cubbon Reads gathered at Cubbon Park on Saturday to celebrate Secret Santa, an annual book exchange event for avid readers, and they were allegedly harassed by the horticulture authorities.

The park authorities confiscated books from readers who attended Secret Santa event held by Cubbon Reads community. ((Screengrab from Cubbon Reads' Instagram post. )

Take a look at the post

In a social media post, the Cubbon Reads community alleged that they were bullied and kicked out by the park authorities on Saturday. They also claimed that the gathering was peaceful and lawful.

In a statement, the Cubbon Reads community said, “Our experience yesterday has scarred us more than scared us, and we have been overwhelmed by the support from the whole of Bangalore and beyond. Besides support, what really stumped us are stories of harassment by the Cubbon Park authorities during peaceful and lawful gatherings that came our way.”

The community further claimed that people who were part of other groups were also asked to leave the park premises. “They have bullied and kicked out not just readers but so many other well-meaning groups: a group of botanists group coming to study mushrooms, birders, dancers, designers sitting and peacefully discussing, free yoga groups (they took away their mats and shot videos without permission) and even run clubs. Incidentally, most of these groups have young people in them. We already read about how they bullied skaters not too long ago,” the post further read.

The curators of Cubbon Reads were reportedly asked to pay a fine of ₹35,000 and were even threatened of filing an FIR for conducting a gathering without prior permission. There were later asked to leave after giving a written apology. A video was put out in which the park’s security personnel were seen grabbing the books of readers who came to attend the Secret Santa event and an argument erupted between them.

Meanwhile, Kusuma G, The Deputy Director of Horticulture at Cubbon Park, said that gatherings in Cubbon Park need permission. Speaking to Deccan Herald, she said, “Any gathering that has more than 20 people must obtain permission to go ahead. There were hundreds of people who were constantly shouting, screaming, and even carrying plastic covers inside the park.”

She also told the publication that religious events are permitted inside the park.