Mumbai Police accused of intimidating venues to stop Umar Khalid film

Activists Shrishti Khanna and Prashant Pundir have accused the Mumbai Police of using intimidation tactics to prevent the screening of a documentary titled ‘Prisoner No. 626710 Is Present’. The film focuses on Umar Khalid, a former Jawaharlal Nehru University student leader who has been imprisoned since 2020 in connection with the northeast Delhi riots.

The organizers allege that police personnel, often appearing in civilian clothes, visited multiple venues to pressure managers into canceling the event. According to the activists, a venue manager was threatened, leading to the cancellation of the scheduled September 19 screening.

Khanna and Pundir further claimed that even after the event was publicly canceled due to fear, police conducted raids on the original venue and visited other potential locations in Bandra to ensure no screening took place.