'The Kashmir Files': Kota to impose Section 144 from March 22 in view of film's screening

The Ashok Gehlot-led Rajasthan government has decided to impose Section 144 in Kota from tomorrow, March 22, till April 21. The move comes in the wake of maintaining law and order with the screening of Vivek Agnihotri's controversial film, The Kashmir Files. The film has become a major crowd-puller and has been receiving political support from several states, including Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Tripura, Karnataka, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand. These states have also declared the film tax-free in order to encourage people to watch the film. 

The announcement of imposing Section 144 in Kota was announced by the Kota District Collector & District Magistrate's office. Implementing Section 144 is imposed in order to prevent protests, unrest or riots. The orders are communicated to the Executive Magistrate when there is an emergency situation. The maximum punishment for the violation of the Section 144 code is three years. 

More on The Kashmir files

Penned and helmed by Vivek Agnihotri, the film depicts the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from Kashmir following systematic killings of people from the community by Pakistan-funded terrorists. The film features Anupam Kher, Pallavi Joshi, Darshan Kumar, and Mithun Chakraborty among others.

While the film is receiving praises for its realistic depiction of the events, it is also courting opposition for allegedly whitewashing the events of 1990. In an exclusive chat with Republic Media Network's Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami on his Debate show, director Vivek Agnihotri dished out how he made the film.

He stated, ''I have not written the story in Kashmir, it is written by the Islamic terrorists, I have just presented it as is. We have interviewed 700 first-gen victims, spoke to them for days. Everyone was talking about the victims of Kashmir, nobody was talking to the victims of Kashmir. Therefore, we decided to go and find the real pain, and we have presented it as is without a full stop and comma." 

Image: Instagram/@anupampkher