NALSAR students screen Umar Khalid documentary

Umar Khalid documentary NALSAR University IIIT Hyderabad cinematograph act student activism

Students at NALSAR University of Law in Telangana organized a campus screening of the documentary ‘Prisoner No. 626710 is Present’ on Wednesday, September 23. Directed by Lalit Vachani, the film focuses on jailed activist Umar Khalid.

The screening was held in solidarity with students at the International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) Hyderabad, where a planned screening of the same documentary was recently cancelled. At IIIT Hyderabad, eight students associated with the independent platform ‘No Tyrants, No Silence’ (NTNS) received disciplinary warnings after attempting to organize the event as part of discussions on caste, merit, and politics.

The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) had intervened regarding the IIIT Hyderabad event, stating that screening an uncertified documentary without a specific exemption would violate the Cinematograph Act.