Overview
- Students and ABVP reported that NLSIU’s Law and Society Committee decided to cancel the planned screening on Saturday, Sept 19, after discussions with the Student Bar Association, university administration and faculty.
- The university cited a CBFC-related legal concern that the documentary by Lalit Vachani is uncertified and that public exhibition would violate the Cinematograph Act unless a specific exemption is obtained.
- ABVP had objected to the screening, demanded its cancellation and said it will raise the issue with CBFC officials and Union ministers, including a planned meeting with CBFC authorities in Bengaluru.
- Organisers replaced the screening with a new series called 'The Criminal Justice Conversations', which began with a session on 'UAPA: Bail and Beyond' to focus debate on law and procedure rather than a public film showing.
- The episode highlights the clash between campus organisers who framed the event as academic inquiry and critics who raised national‑security concerns, set against the sensitive legal background of Umar Khalid’s 2020 arrest under the UAPA; the CBFC itself has not been quoted on the matter in these reports.