Students at NALSAR University of Law in Hyderabad organised a screening of filmmaker Lalit Vachani's documentary Prisoner No. 626710 is Present on Wednesday evening, days after proposed screenings at IIIT Hyderabad and NLSIU Bengaluru were called off.
The screening was organised independently by a group of students and was described as a "solidarity screening". The event was restricted to students.
A NALSAR student told The Times of India that the screening was intended to allow students to engage with the film's questions around rights, accountability and prolonged incarceration. The students also called on student bodies at other universities to organise similar screenings.
The documentary follows Umar Khalid, a former Jawaharlal Nehru University research scholar, his arrest in September 2020 and his subsequent incarceration in the case relating to the alleged larger conspiracy behind the February 2020 northeast Delhi riots. Khalid has been charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and other provisions. He has denied the allegations.
Why was the IIIT Hyderabad screening cancelled?
A group of students at IIIT Hyderabad had proposed screening the documentary at the KRB Auditorium on September 18.
On September 17, the Central Board of Film Certification said on X that publicly screening a film that had not been certified by the board would violate the Cinematograph Act unless a specific exemption had been obtained. The CBFC tagged IIIT Hyderabad in the post.
IIIT Hyderabad subsequently cancelled the proposed event and said it had not authorised it.
"The Institute has made it clear that no public or private screening of the film will be permitted in any Institute space, including classrooms, laboratories or offices," the institute said.
The institute said an informal student group had proposed the screening without obtaining official permission or following the required procedures.
It also said the proposed event had "no link to IIIT-H officially in any way" and that neither the institute nor its recognised student bodies were involved.
Eight students associated with an independent campus platform, No Tyrants, No Silence, were subsequently issued disciplinary warnings, according to reports. The group had sought to initiate discussions on caste, merit and politics.
What happened at NLSIU?
The IIIT-H episode followed a separate controversy at the National Law School of India University in Bengaluru.
NLSIU's Law and Society Committee had initially planned to screen the documentary on September 14, around Political Prisoners' Day and six years after Khalid's arrest.
The screening was postponed after the RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad opposed it and wrote to the Union Home Minister and Karnataka Governor. The ABVP alleged that the screening would amount to political propaganda on campus.
LawSoc later cancelled the screening, citing threats of criminal action, intimidation, doxxing and doxxing-related harassment.
The committee said it remained committed to discussions on freedom and justice but would instead engage with questions surrounding criminal justice through other programmes.
NALSAR says screening was not authorised
While students held the screening at NALSAR, the university administration said it had not officially approved the event.
NALSAR Vice-Chancellor Professor Srikrishna Deva Rao said, "NALSAR University of Law did not authorise screening of the documentary film Prisoner No 626710 on its campus. No official permission for the same was given to anybody by any University authority."
The film remains uncertified by the CBFC. The board has said that public exhibition of an uncertified film requires certification or a specific exemption under the Cinematograph Act.
Khalid remains in custody in the Delhi riots-linked UAPA case. The Delhi High Court has listed his latest bail plea for hearing on September 30.
