Buses were torched and vehicles damaged as fringe groups ran amok in Gurugram and Rohini in West Delhi as protests against the release of Padmaavat intensified on Wednesday, 24 January.
Mobs were seen pelting stones at the vehicles. A Haryana roadways bus was set on fire by the miscreants who demanded that the Sanjay Leela Bhansali film should not be screened in theatres.
Police have detained many of the protestors, who also raised slogans against the film’s star Deepika Padukone who plays the titular character of Padmavati.
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At Rohini, theatre owners are concerned about the security of their theatres. Mobs of protesters were seen raising slogans against Bhansali.
Reports indicate that Chittor fort has been defiled by miscreants.
Earlier today, the Rajasthan Police arrested Chittorgarh chief of the Rajput Karni Sena, Govind Singh Khangarot and the group’s vice president Kamlendu Singh Solanki.
The group had declared that over 1,900 women of the community will commit jauhar (mass immolation) as part of protests.
Protests have intensified despite the Supreme Court putting a stay on the ban of the film in some states and instructing others not to ban the film.
But the fringe groups have warned theatre owners not to screen the film.
‘Padmaavat’, which is based on the 16th century poem of the same name by Malik Muhammed Jayasi, has been in controversy since 2017.
Karni Sena, one of the fringe groups, has been most vocal in its opposition to the film. The groups claim that Bhansali’s film is an affront to Rajput honour.
According to Jayasi’s poem, the prime motivation behind Alauddin Khilji’s 1303 Siege of Chittor was the Sultan’s desire for Rani Padmini.
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