[Reader-list] Delhi film school students detained for filming near American centre

[Harsh Kapoor]

[2 reports below ]

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=64196
Delhi New Line
September 26, 2003
 
Jamia media students grilled in CP
Express News Service
New Delhi, September 25: Three students of mass communications at 
Jamia Milia Islamia were detained by the Connaught Place police this 
afternoon and interrogated by a joint team of Special Cell and IB. 
Their crime: Allegedly filming the American Centre without valid 
permission.

They were released about two-and-a-half hours later but only after 
being photographed like common criminals. The incident has left the 
three shaken. They had been simply filming on Kasturba Gandhi Marg 
for their final year masters project for the Mass Communication 
Research Centre at Jamia.

''I am from Kashmir, and my classmates - a boy and girl - are from 
Bihar and Manipur. It's a deadly combination. We kept trying to 
explain to the police that we were just filming for a project but 
they refused to listen to us. This despite the fact that we showed 
the police our footage,'' says 24-year-old Ruhail Amin, adding, 
''They harassed us for no reason''.

He said the shots were basically ''cutaways to be used in their 
project on the Indian legal system. We were shooting buses and 
people, that's all''. The police asked the three, including their 
driver, engineer and light man, to come with them to the CP police 
station.

''The IB and Special Cell officers asked us about everything but our 
footage. They asked us about our families and homes. They kept asking 
us if we were from SIMI. They asked me where I was from in Kashmir. I 
think the fact that I was from Kashmir gave them strange ideas. 
Though they did not lay a finger on us, the entire thing was 
torturous,'' says Amin.

''They were not involved in anything. There was nothing suspicious. 
It was just a mistake,'' the New Delhi district police was explaining 
later. ''One needs permission to shoot in New Delhi district because 
it's a sensitive area. They were unaware of this. We do not want to 
give their names because it could spoil their careers,'' said a 
senior police officer, somewhat ominously.

Amin says their interrogators believed them only when their teachers 
arrived. ''We even showed them a letter from our department addressed 
to 'whomsoever it would concern' but they were not interested,'' he 
says.

But what he is really worried about are the photographs. ''Just 
before leaving, we were asked to stand with a slate in front of us so 
that they could take photographs. We kept asking them why, but they 
said it was procedure. Now they can do whatever they want with the 
photos. We are really worried,'' he said adding, ''We have now 
requested the university authorities to help us. And give a letter 
stating that nothing was found on us.''

o o o

Detained communication students contemplate legal action

 From Indo-Asian News Service

New Delhi, Sep 26 (IANS) Three students who were detained by police for
several hours while filming near the heavily guarded American Centre
building here are contemplating legal action and complaining to India's top
rights body.

The students were picked up by police personnel from Kasturba Gandhi Marg,
the road on which the American Centre is located, Thursday at around 1.15
p.m and questioned for several hours and let off in the evening.

The three second-year students of mass communication -- Rohail, Shahabuddin
and Sharvanti Rai -- at the Jamia Millia Islamia University, said they were
filming for a college project, but the American Centre had not figured in
any footage shot by them.

"We didn't even shoot any footage of the American Centre. All we filmed was
people passing by on K.G. Marg," Rohail told IANS.

Police officials had claimed Thursday that footage of the American Centre
could compromise the security of the protected building.

University administrator Abdul Fahim said the authorities were planning to
write to the National Human Rights Commission about the matter.

Rohail, who belongs to Jammu and Kashmir, said the students were harassed
for several hours and interrogated by sleuths from Delhi Police and the
Intelligence Bureau.

He said police denied them any access to lawyers or college authorities who
could have proved their identity.

The police, however, denied his claim. "They never asked us for making any
such phone calls to lawyers or college authorities," said Deputy
Commissioner of Police Manoj Lall.

Lall said the students were neither detained nor arrested and had been "only
stopped for questioning".

"The diplomatic security force of the American Centre informed us of the
filming unit and we are obligated under the Vienna Convention to provide
them diplomatic protection," Lall said.

Rohail said at least six officials interrogated them and most of them were
interested in his Kashmiri background.

"The most humiliating part was when all three of us were forced to get our
photographs taken like criminals," Rohail said.

"When we were asked to accompany the policemen they told us the matter would
be sorted out in 10 minutes. But we were let off only at 6 p.m."