Kerala police on Monday arrested six people for disrespecting National Anthem in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram. The six people, arrested by police, allegedly didn’t stand up, while the National Anthem was played before screening of an Italian movie at International Film Festival. Earlier, in the day, another incident of harassment was reported for not standing at National Anthem. It was reported that nearly 20 people beat up 1 male and 2 females at Chennai’s Kasi theatre in Ashok Nagar for not standing up while the national anthem was being played before the screening of the movie ‘Chennai 28-II’. Earlier this month the Supreme Court had made it mandatory for the movie theatres to play the national anthem before the beginning of the film. The court ruling also mandated every abled person to to stand up and show adequate respect to the national anthem.
Although, the report also suggests that 9 people had remained seated while the national anthem was being played inside the hall. The argument between Vijaykumar and Vij then took an ugly turn when 20 people took to their own to beat up Vij and the two other women, Sabaritha and Shreela. Shreela, who is a law student told ToI that they were harassed and manhandled while being assaulted and receiving life threats. She added that the trio had no intention of showing disrespect to the anthem.
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As per a report by Times of India, one of the alleged harasser, Vijaykumar, a civil service aspirant, said that the three people who were beaten were taking selfies when the anthem was being played which could not be accepted by ‘many of them’.