By IANS
Kolkata : A theatre group here has alleged that it was threatened by police against staging a play on Rizwanur Rahman, a Muslim youth who died under mysterious circumstances, though the police denied the allegation. The play was staged on the streets as a protest against the alleged attack on freedom of expression.
“Police called us up and threatened us not to stage the play as scheduled in a hall under (the jurisdiction of the) Hastings police station,” said Chaitali Mullick of the theatre group Agnibina, which produced the Bengali play “Bhalobashar Aarek Nam – Rizwanur” (Another name for love – Rizwanur).
“We are shocked that we could be prevented from staging this play,” Mullick remarked.
But the police have denied making any threat against the staging of the play.
The group finally staged the play on the street in front of the Academy of Fine Arts here Wednesday.
The play portrays love in the face of opposition from police and family members.
“It seems (as though) we are living in a jungle and there is no democracy,” said Anirban Chowdhury, state secretary of Yuva League, a frontal organisation of the Forward Bloc, one of the Left Front constituents in the state government.
The League sided with the group and helped them stage the play on the street.
Prominent theatre personalities such as Shaoli Mitra, Bibhas Chakraborty and Kaushik Sen supported the group in their protest.
Rizwanur, a 30-year-old computer graphic designer, was found dead beside a railway track here with his head smashed on Sep 21, barely a month after marrying Hindu girl Priyanka Todi, daughter of prominent industrialist Ashok Todi.
There have been allegations that Rizwanur was being pressured by policemen to end his marriage to Priyanka. Five policemen, including Kolkata Police Commissioner Prasun Mukherjee, were removed from their posts in connection with the case Wednesday, a day after the Calcutta High Court ordered a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation.