Bengaluru, Sep 13 (IANS) The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in Bengaluru has demanded that the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) cancel a proposed campus screening of filmmaker Lalit Vachani’s documentary on imprisoned activist Umar Khalid, titled ‘Prisoner No. 626710 is Present’.
The documentary is scheduled to be screened at NLSIU on September 14 by the Law and Society Committee (Law Soc), a student organisation at the university.
The event is being organised in solidarity with Umar Khalid and marks six years since his imprisonment without trial under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in connection with the 2020 Delhi riots.
The proposed screening is part of a wider series of solidarity screenings and gatherings being organised at different locations across the country.
The event comes just a day after Political Prisoners’ Day, observed in India on September 13 (Sunday), and also coincides with the date of Umar Khalid’s arrest in 2020.
Umar Khalid, a former student leader at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), was arrested in connection with the Delhi riots case and has remained in custody since September 202.
He has been charged under the UAPA and other provisions of law, but the trial in the case is yet to begin.
In a press statement, ABVP Bengaluru Secretary Abhinandan Mirji said the RSS-backed student organisation “strongly condemns the proposed campus screening”.
Mirji said ABVP had also sent a formal complaint through email to the NLSIU administration, urging the university authorities to stop the event. However, he said that no response had been received from the administration so far.
“ABVP emphasises that academic campuses must remain dedicated to national integrity and learning, rather than serving as platforms for political propaganda or glorifying civil unrest,” the statement said.
Girish has also written to Sudhir Krishnaswamy, Vice-Chancellor of NLSIU, urging the university to cancel the proposed screening of the documentary.
The demand for cancellation at NLSIU comes weeks after the JNU administration in Delhi revoked permission for the venue where a discussion on Umar Khalid’s book, ‘Fractured Communities: Adivasi Histories and the Politics of Power’, was scheduled to take place in August.
Reacting to the latest development, Umar Khalid’s father, Syed Qasim Rasool Ilyas, told IANS that his son had not been convicted by any court and said that attempts to prevent such screenings amounted to an “authoritarian” approach.
“Until a court convicts a person, they are considered innocent in the eyes of the law. Preventing screenings or programmes until a crime is proven is an authoritarian and wrong approach by ABVP,” he said.
Ilyas also added that questions surrounding the Umar Khalid case had been raised by media organisations, human rights groups and various other forums in India and abroad.
He also alleged that people associated with the movements against the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) had been linked to the Delhi riots by the government and that false cases had been prepared against them.
He also questioned the prolonged custody of his son and other accused in the case.
“Even after six years, the trial has not yet begun. In such a situation, they should have been granted bail, but bail is being delayed at every level, from the lower court to the High Court and the Supreme Court, which is unjust. Democratic programmes of this kind should continue to be held at JNU and other educational institutions,” Ilyas added.
–IANS
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