Unidentified men make bid to torch movie hall in F’bad

A group of unidentified youth made an apparent bid to torch a cinema hall in Faridabad in a bid to lodge a protest against the release of the movie Padmaavat, officials said.

The incident occured at MSX Silvercity Cinemas in Faridabad’s Sector 12 area on Thursday. “It was around 10pm that some youth appeared on the scene and threw an inflammable item towards the ticket counter and torched it. Thankfully the counter was shut at the time,” Vikesh Kumar, deputy manager of the cinema said.

The ticket counter is situated on the ground floor while the movie screen is situated on the third floor of Parsvnath City Mall on Mathura Road.

“We immediately rushed to the spot and doused the flame... some fabric and a poster was burnt and no major damage was caused,” said Kumar.

“We received a complaint from cinema hall staffers that some young men, whose faces were covered, approached the cinema hall. One of them sprinkled some inflammable substance towards the ticket counter and tried to set it afire,” SHO central police station Rajdeep Mor said.

“We have registered a case under Section 436 and 34 of IPC against unknown accused,” Mor said.

Soon after the incident, a video appeared on the social media in which a youth was seen standing in front of the fire with his face. “We are investigating the case from all angles and accused will be arrested at the earliest,” Mor said.

Following this incident, police officials took stock of the security arrangements at all the cinema halls in the city.

Meanwhile, Akhil Bharatiya Kshatriya Mahasabha on Friday held protest demonstration in Faridabad on Friday against the screening of the movie. Activists from the group on Saturday called on owners of the malls resorting to “Gandhigiri”.

“We approached some mall owners and gave them roses to express our reservation towards screening of the film on January 25,” Umesh Bhati, state president of the Mahasabha said.