Three people including a woman senior citizen were roughed up by a mob in Chennai for not standing up for the National Anthem at the Chennai International Film Festival. The incident took place at around 12 noon at Palazzo Cinemas in Vadapalani.
The three have been taken into custody by the Chennai police. Eye-witnesses say that the when the National Anthem was being played ahead of the screening of Bulgarian film Glory, a graduate and two women, including a senior citizen, who allegedly refused to stand up for the national anthem.
The women are reportedly members of an organisation called CPI (ML) RESIST.
Agitated by this, the organizers and the audience allegedly attacked the four people, said reporters who had attended the film festival. They also stated that the organiser of the mob, who roughed up the four people, consisted of more than 30 people while the organisers called the police.
The incident in Chennai, however, isn’t the first such case of a scuffle breaking out at a theatre.
Days after the Supreme Court directed cinema halls across the country to play the National Anthem before the commencement of films, seven people were allegedly assaulted by a group in Chennai’s Kasi Theatre on December 11, 2016, after they refused to stand up for the National Anthem.
Scuffle breaks out in Chennai theatre after youths refuse to stand up for National Anthem
The seven youths, all students of various colleges in Chennai, are also part of CPI (ML) RESIST.
On December 12, 2016 eleven people were arrested (and later released on bail) for not standing up during the National Anthem which was played before the screening of a film at International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) in Thiruvananthapuram. This included three journalists who were at IFFK to watch the night screening of a movie.
The Supreme Court had on November 30 ordered ordered all cinema halls across the country to play the national anthem before the screening of films. The court said the practice would “instill a feeling within one a sense of committed patriotism and nationalism.”
Source: The News Minute