Dilwale' still off the screens in Mangaluru

Mangaluru, Dec 24: With theatre managements showing reluctance in taking police protection to screen Shahrukh Khan starrer 'Dilwale,' the film continued to be off the screens in the city for the fourth day on Thursday, Dec 24.

City Police Commissioner S Murugan told reporters here that even after he held a meeting with theatre managements on December 22 offering protection to screen the movie, their response was not positive. Some of them even refused to take protection, he said.

Meanwhile, Co-ordinator of Citizens Forum for Mangalore Development Vidya Dinker shot off a letter to state Home Minister G Parameshwara to immediately seek a report on the present law and order situation in the coastal region and ensure centralised monitoring of investigations into such incidents.

Dinker in her letter said police action on 'immoral policing' in Dakshina Kannada district seemed to be inadequate though the city police commissioner had taken some initiative. Dinker said she had received offensive comments in the social media after she filed a complaint against Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad activists for forcibly stopping the screening of Dilwale.

The comments, allegedly posted by Bajrang Dal city Co-convener Puneeth Raj Kottari on his Facebook account, were later removed after she sent a link to the city police commissioner, Dinker claimed.

In a statement here, VHP Dakshina Kannada district President Jagadish Shenava said they were not continuing with the protests as the theatre owners themselves were not ready to screen the movie. Protests would be held if they attempted to screen it, he said.

Actor Sharukh Khan was at the vortex of a controversy after his remarks on "rising intolerance" in the country raised the hackles of right-wing outfits.

PTI