Umar Khalid documentary screening cancelled amid police pressure allegations

Activists Shrishti Khanna and Prashant Pundir alleged that Mumbai Police pressured venues to cancel a screening of a documentary on Umar Khalid. They claimed plainclothes personnel visited venues and intimidated managers, while police have not publicly responded

Mumbai: Activists Shrishti Khanna and Prashant Pundir have alleged that Mumbai Police got the screening of a documentary on Umar Khalid, a former JNU students’ union leader arrested in 2020 in connection with the Delhi riots case, cancelled after raiding the venue where it was to be held.

In a post on Instagram, Khanna said they were supposed to screen “Prisoner No. 626710 Is Present” in solidarity with Khalid and Sharjeel Imam, who has also been in jail since 2020, here on September 19.

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“Mumbai Police has crossed all levels of cowardice! They have raided our original venue for the Umar Khalid screening as well, which had already been cancelled for us due to fear.

“For context, they threatened the venue manager of our final venue yesterday and got the screening cancelled. We even mentioned publicly that the screening is cancelled, but Mumbai Police still raided the original venue today, which had already been cancelled on us due to fear, just in case, to make sure the truth about Umar Khalid and his unjust incarceration is suppressed,” Pundir said in a post on X on Saturday.

There are groups in civilian clothes lurking around our original venue to still make sure no screening happens, Pundir said.

Khanna also alleged that Mumbai Police personnel were showing up in civilian clothes to intimidate venues into cancelling the documentary screening in solidarity with Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam.

“Our second venue was visited by police, first in civilian clothes and later in a police van. The venue manager was threatened and pressured to cancel the screening, and it was eventually cancelled. But it did not stop there,” Khanna said.

The police also showed up at another well-known venue in Bandra that they had only spoken to while looking for possible spaces, Khanna said.

“It didn’t work out with them. They arrived this morning in civilian clothes, already had information about the screening, and told the venue to cancel it,” Khanna claimed.

“Prisoner No. 626710 Is Present”, directed by filmmaker Lalit Vachani, centres on Khalid, a former Jawaharlal Nehru University 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 in the case and has remained in custody since his arrest.

Incidentally, the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has opposed the screening of the documentary in various parts of the country, stating that public exhibition of an uncertified film would violate the Cinematograph Act unless a specific exemption had been obtained.