Bengaluru man booked for obstructing census work, second such incident reported in city

This is not an isolated incident. In an earlier case reported from a housing society on Dinnur Main Road on April 20, a census enumerator was allegedly abused and denied entry while collecting data. The matter escalated when a supervising officer later visited the premises and allegedly faced similar behaviour from the same resident.

A First Information Report (FIR) was subsequently registered at the RT Nagar police station based on a complaint by Lokesh S P, in-charge officer of BNCC. The police have invoked relevant provisions under the Census Act, 1948, along with sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

Officials said census staff continue to face challenges during fieldwork, including non-cooperation from residents and delays in data collection. The civic body has urged the public to extend full cooperation, stressing that census work is a statutory and nationally significant exercise.

BNCC Commissioner Pommala Sunil Kumar has also appealed to citizens to cooperate with enumerators, stating that obstruction of official duties is a punishable offence. Meanwhile, the civic body has flagged the issue of a shortage of deployed staff, with over 6,000 personnel yet to report for census duty, reportedly due to delays in being relieved by their respective departments.