Bollywood actress Ayesha Khan of the hit song ‘Shararat’ in the film ‘Dhurandhar’ said on Wednesday, July 22, that she was picked up by Mumbai Police personnel from Dadar, a location in Mumbai, while attending a gathering organised to show solidarity for the student protests in Delhi seeking Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation.
The actress, who sent ripples across Indian social media in March by revealing in an interview that she was on her period when the chartbuster song was being shot, said she was dragged and pushed into a van by force by the cops without being given any reason.
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The gathering in Mumbai, organised to protest the police violence during the ‘march to parliament’ by Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) on Monday, July 20, was an indication that the protests, which originated over the NEET paper leak, were spreading to various cities across the country. Protests were staged at several locations in Mumbai on Wednesday demanding Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation as Union Education Minister.
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In an Instagram post, Ayesha Khan said she was taken from Dadar to Worli by the cops. She said she was picked up by about five female police personnel into the van when she arrived at the public gathering at 4 PM. She was picked up before she even had uttered a word in support of the student protests in Delhi, she said.
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“Dragged, detained for standing in peace. Asked questions to all the police people present there on why were we being detained? But no answer whatsoever! Sadak pe khade rehna kabse crime ho gaya? Today will be the most peaceful sleep of my life. I stood for what was right! Still in the police station asking the same question! Why am I detained? Which law did I break? Forget about one’s democratic right, and protecting it, instead you are harming your own citizens, for what? I see shame in some of their eyes, but they are bound by their duties, they know, we know, what’s right and what’s wrong,” Khan wrote in another Instagram post, in which she also shared a video of her being pushed into the police van.
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Well-known climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, who is on an indefinite hunger strike in support of CJP’s demand for Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation, was removed from the protest site at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar by police on Saturday. He remains hospitalised.