Censorship/Film

The screening of the documentary Prisoner No. 626710 is Present, scheduled for Saturday and expected to be attended by 40 to 60 persons, was cancelled after police personnel visited the two venues they had approached, one of the organisers Shrishti Khanna told Scroll.

Khanna said that after the first venue that they were considering for the screening became unavailable they finalised another venue and confirmed the screening with its manager.

She added that on Friday, after the arrangements had been completed for the event, persons in civilian clothes – purportedly police officers – arrived at the second venue around 7 pm and began questioning the manager. She alleged that they intimidated him and pressured him to cancel the screening.

Khanna further alleged that the venue manager received a call from the superintendent of police, after which a police vehicle arrived at the venue.

The manager called the organisers “in distress” to tell them that he could not allow the event to go ahead, she said.

“This was a private screening at a paid venue, with participants being registered in advance,” Khanna said. “It was not a public demonstration or an unlawful gathering.”

After the venue cancelled the event, Khanna said she and the other organiser, Prashant Pundir, informed the attendees that the screening had been called off. Despite this, the police reached the first venue that the organisers had considered, she added.

Khanna alleged that police personnel in plainclothes arrived at that venue, questioned the person in charge and asked them to cancel the screening, even though the event was not scheduled to take place there.

She also said that the organisers had not shared online details of the place where the screening will be held and questioned how the police had learned that they were in talks with the two venues.

Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.