Activists say Mumbai police raids, threats halted Umar Khalid documentary screening

Organisers of a documentary screening on jailed former JNU students' union leader Umar Khalid have alleged that Mumbai police pressured venues into cancelling the event and raided a location where it was to be held.

Activist Shrishti Khanna said in an Instagram post that the film "Prisoner No. 626710 Is Present" was to be shown in the city on September 19 in solidarity with Khalid and Sharjeel Imam, both in custody since 2020. She alleged that police personnel, initially in civilian clothes and later in a police van, visited a second venue, where the manager was threatened and pressured until the screening was called off.

Fellow organiser Prashant Pundir said in a post on X that officers had also raided the original venue even though the event there had already been cancelled. He claimed that groups of people in civilian clothes were still lingering near that location to ensure no screening took place.

Khanna further alleged that police turned up at a well-known venue in Bandra that the organisers had only approached while scouting for possible spaces. According to her account, officers arrived in civilian clothes that morning, already aware of the planned screening, and told the venue to cancel it.

The documentary, directed by filmmaker Lalit Vachani, centres on Khalid, a former Jawaharlal Nehru University research scholar arrested in September 2020 in connection with the alleged larger conspiracy behind the northeast Delhi riots. He has been charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and other provisions, and has remained in custody since his arrest.

The Central Board of Film Certification has opposed screenings 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.