Screening of 'Ram Ke Naam' documentary stopped midway; three held

Hyderabad: Ahead of Ram Mandir Prana Pratishta at Ayodhya, a group of right-wing activists have disrupted the screening of the ‘Ram Ke Naam’, a 1992 documentary based on Babri Masjid demolition scheduled for January 20, at Cinephiles and Marley’s Joint Bistro, Defence colony, Neredmet.

Upon receiving information about the documentary screening, a team of police personnel from Neredmet rushed to the spot and arrested three persons identified as Anand and Piyush from Hyderabad Cinephiles and Srujan, owner of Marley Joint. The police filed an FIR u/s 290, 295A,r/w 34 IPC against activists and further investigation is underway into the matter.

Case details

P Ruthvik (30), an advocate and resident of Anandbagh, Malkajgiri, along with his friends went to Marley's Joint Bistro restaurant located at Defence colony, Neredmet. “I came across the screening of “Ram Ke Naam” documentary and a few people were discussing it. After watching their performance, I found that all their acts and behaviours were against Hinduism and hurting religious sentiments,” he said.

Ruthvik said that while screening the documentary the activists are making derogatory statements against the Hindu religion and the VHP organisation. The event was organised by Hyderabad Cinephiles. “After obstructing the screening of the documentary a few other organisers fled the spot. The organisers have intentionally organised the event to create communal issues before the Ram Mandir Prana Pratishta. The owners of Marley Joint– Sowmith Reddy and Srujan have cooperated for this event,” he said and appealed to the police to take necessary action against them.

Bajrang dal leaders throng Neredmet police station

Soon after the documentary screening at Marley’s Joint Bistro, Bajrang dal leaders gathered in huge numbers before the Neredmet police station and demanded stern action on the organisers for their attempts to create communal disturbances ahead of Ram Mandir Prana Pratishta at Ayodhya. With Bajrang dal activists reached the police station premises it had become an herculean task for them to disperse them and restore normalcy at their place.

Civil society objects unauthorised detention of the owners

Members of civil society objected to the unauthorised detention of the owners. Their mobile phones were taken away and those who came to meet them were not allowed inside the police station. Police asked the crowd to go away and locked the gate on Saturday night. They said that an FIR is being filed against them. Lawyers who tried to reach there were told not to come. On Sunday morning civil society members demanded to know why an investigation was being carried out and why they were detained all night.

The police took all the three arrested and produced before the Medchal Malkajgiri district Magistrate for remand. Later, the court granted bail to all the three persons.