Indian police detain dozens protesting against controversial movie

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI (Reuters): Right-wing Hindu groups in India stepped up protests on Wednesday against the release of a controversial Bollywood film, as several states boosted police patrols a day after the Supreme Court refused to allow bans on the movie.

Groups critical of the film, set to be released on Thursday, have accused its director, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, of distorting history by portraying a Muslim ruler as the “lover” of the Hindu Queen Padmavati of the Rajput warrior clan.

The filmmakers deny the accusation.

Violence over the film, “Padmaavat”, reached the outskirts of India’s capital just as New Delhi began to receive southeast Asian leaders for a major summit on Thursday, to be followed the next day by a parade and celebrations of India’s Republic Day.

Security for the parade showcasing India’s military might, which is to be attended by ten leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, has been tightened more than in previous years.

Television broadcast images of gangs of young men, their faces concealed by swathes of cloth, throwing stones in the streets of Gurgaon, 30 km (19 miles) from New Delhi, while the hollowed-out shell of a bus smouldered nearby.

The protesters carried sticks and caused minor injuries to 14 people, said B.S. Sandhu, a senior police official, adding that police had detained 15 protesters.

“We will not tolerate any violence in the name of protests against a movie,” Sandhu added. “Sporadic rioting did take place but no one will be allowed to protest now.”

Indian films that touch upon the historical relationships of Hindus, India’s majority religion, and Muslim leaders are often controversial.

In the financial capital of Mumbai, police have boosted security at all theatres screening the film, and detained more than 100 members of protest groups, such as the conservative Sri Rajput Karni Sena, as a precaution, a senior police official said.

Police are also closely monitoring social media, he added. Police had to open fire to disperse crowds on Tuesday night as protests against the film turned increasingly violent, with vandalism around multiplexes in the western state of Gujarat and dozens of motorcycles being set on fire.

Police have arrested 20 men involved, said Kalpesh Patel, a police officer in the state’s key industrial city of Ahmedabad.