IN CINEMA

PRISONER NO. 626710 IS PRESENT
Monday, February 3rd at 7PM
Tickets: FREE

Presented with South Asia Institute at Columbia University

On September 13, 2020, Umar Khalid, a charismatic student leader who recently finished his PhD at India’s prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University, was arrested under the draconian UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act) – a law that designates individuals as terrorists and allows the Indian state to imprison people without due process.

His crime? As an Indian Muslim, he had dared to protest against the new citizenship law that the Indian state was trying to impose on its people.

Using found footage of his past speeches along with a forensic analysis of how he was framed by the right-wing, Hindu nationalist media, Umar Khalid’s close friends Banojyotsna Lahiri and Shuddhabrata Sengupta reconstruct the chronology of events that led to his tragic imprisonment.

It has been over 1,500 days since Umar Khalid was arrested. There have been 15 bail hearing adjournments. His case has not yet come up for trial. He and his friends still await a fair hearing in court.

Post-screening discussions with Lalit Vachani and Debashree Mukherjee!