Activists Shrishti Khanna and Prashant Pundir have alleged that Mumbai Police stopped the screening of a documentary on former Jawaharlal Nehru University student leader Umar Khalid after police allegedly visited and raided venues where the event was planned.
The activists were scheduled to screen Prisoner No. 626710 Is Present in Mumbai on September 19 in solidarity with Khalid and activist Sharjeel Imam, both of whom have been in jail since 2020 in connection with cases related to the northeast Delhi riots.
Activists Allege Police Pressure on Venues
In a post on Instagram, Khanna alleged that police personnel in civilian clothes were visiting venues and pressuring them to cancel the screening.
Pundir said the manager of their final venue was allegedly threatened on Friday, forcing the organisers to cancel the event. He claimed that police later visited the original venue even though it had already been cancelled.
“Mumbai Police has crossed all levels of cowardice. They raided our original venue for the Umar Khalid screening as well, even though it had already been cancelled because of fear,” Pundir said in a post on X.
He further alleged that groups of people in civilian clothes were present around the original venue to ensure that the documentary was not screened.
Khanna made similar allegations, saying police personnel were allegedly appearing at venues in civilian clothes and intimidating them into cancelling the event.
“Venue Manager Was Threatened”
Khanna alleged that the second venue was visited first by police personnel in civilian clothes and later by officers in a police vehicle.
“The venue manager was threatened and pressured to cancel the screening, and it was eventually cancelled. But it did not stop there,” she said.
She also alleged that police later visited another well known venue in Bandra that the organisers had approached while looking for a possible location.
According to Khanna, police arrived at the venue on the morning of September 19 and told the management to cancel the screening, despite the organisers not finalising the venue.
There was no response from Mumbai Police to these allegations in the material cited in the report.
Documentary Focuses on Umar Khalid
Prisoner No. 626710 Is Present, directed by filmmaker Lalit Vachani, focuses on Umar Khalid, a former JNU research scholar who was arrested in September 2020 in connection with the alleged larger conspiracy behind the northeast Delhi riots.
Khalid has been charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and other provisions and remains in custody.
The documentary has faced objections to its public screening in different parts of the country.
The Central Board of Film Certification has reportedly raised objections to screenings of the documentary, saying that public exhibition of an uncertified film would violate the Cinematograph Act unless a specific exemption had been obtained.
