Haryana mall attack may be linked to ‘Padmaavat’: Police

Chandigarh, Jan 22 : The Haryana Police on Monday registered a case and started an investigation into an attack on a portion of the Kessal Mall in Haryana’s Kurukshetra town, around 100 km from here. The attack is being linked to the screening of the controversial film “Padmaavat”.

Police officials said that CCTV footage of the mall was being examined in which some unidentified miscreants were seen vandalising a portion of the mall on Sunday evening.

The miscreants, who were said to be opposed to the screening of the film, came with their faces covered.

No one was injured in the incident though there was some damage to the property.

“A case has been registered against unknown persons for rioting. Some windowpanes of the mall were broken,” Kurukshetra Superintendent of Police Abhishek Garg told the media on Monday.

The police is not ruling out the possibility of the attack being linked to “Padmaavat”.

The government will implement the orders of the Supreme Court on the release of the film and also provide security to cinema halls which will screen the film, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said on Monday.

However, cinema halls and multiplexes in the state are uncertain if they will screen the film, apprehending violence by various elements opposed to the film.

The Haryana government was among the BJP governments that had imposed a ban on screening of “Padmaavat” in the state, citing law and order issues.

The Supreme Court had last week stayed the ban imposed on the screening of the film by the governments of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. It is set to release nationwide on Thursday.

Major sections of the Rajput community and fringe elements are opposing the screening of the film, produced and directed by leading filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali, saying that it portrayed Queen Padmavati in a wrong manner.

Haryana has a Bharatiya Janata Party government since October 2014.

IANS