Case lodged against filmmaker who wrote to ULFA chief

GUWAHATI-BASED filmmaker Himangshu Prasad Das, who last month made it to the headlines for writing to ULFA chief Paresh Barua against cinema hall owners who had allegedly removed his film despite good audience, on Friday got a call from police, asking him to appear in the Panbazar police station here.

“We have registered a suo motu case against the filmmaker after seeing media reports that he wrote a letter to ULFA leader Paresh Barua complaining that some cinema hall owners had allegedly removed his film on January 25 although it was drawing good audience. We summoned him to the police station and wanted to know why he wrote the letter to the leader of a banned militant outfit,” said Guwahati Police Commissioner Hiren Chandra Nath.

The case has been lodged under Sections 120B, 121, 121A and 506 of the Indian Penal Code, read with Section 66F of the IT Act, Nath said. “We have not arrested him yet, but we can arrest him in the interest of the investigations,” he told The Indian Express.

Das, a 2008 alumnus of the National School of Drama, said most cinema-hall owners had removed his film deliberately to make more money from Hindi films. He admitted he wrote an “open letter” to Paresh Barua, but said he had written such letters to leaders of various other organisations, including the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU).

Das’s film Shakira Ahibo Bakul-tolor Bihuloi was released on January 20. Chinmay Sharma, owner of Anuradha cinema in Guwahati, said he had clearly told Das that only five days were available because the hall was booked for ‘Raaes’ three months in advance. Following Das’s “open letter”, Paresh Barua had issued a statement through a local television news channel warning cinema hall owners for “conspiring” against Assamese cinema.

Himangshu Prasad Das