IIIT Hyderabad cancels screening of documentary about Umar Khalid after censor board objection
The institute said that no permission had been sought and the announcement of the viewing was ‘not legitimate’.
Black News 
The International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad, on Friday cancelled the screening of a documentary film about activist Umar Khalid on its campus after the Central Board of Film Certification objected to it, The News Minute reported.
Khalid has been in judicial custody for six years in connection with the conspiracy case related to the 2020 Delhi riots. The trial in the case is yet to begin.
IIIT Hyderabad Director Sandeep Kumar Shukla said that the institute had cancelled the screening and the booking of the venue.
In an email sent to students hours after the censor board’s objection, Shukla said that “no public or private screening” in any institute space including “any lab or classroom or offices will be allowed,” The News Minute reported.
The director added that “no permission for such a film show was sought” from the authorities and that the announcement of the screening to those on campus or outside was therefore “not legitimate”.
The censor board had asked IIIT Hyderabad to take “necessary action” against the screening of Prisoner No. 626710 is Present.
Public screening of a documentary that has not yet been certified by the censor board “is a violation” of the 1952 Cinematograph Act “unless a specific exemption has been sought under the act”, the film certification body said on social media.
Public Screening of a...
