'Won't hesitate to flow river of blood if Padmaavat is released'

BAREILLY: In spite of the Supreme Court order against banning of film Padmaavat by a few states and paving its release on January 25, some protesters in

Sambhal

in west UP threatened that they would "not hesitate to flow river of blood in the country if the movie is not banned." Members of the

Kshatriya

community gathered at the sub-divisional magistrate's office in Sambhal district on Sunday, drew blood from their bodies with syringes and wrote a letter in blood addressed to the Prime Minister seeking a ban on the release of film Padmaavat. The protesters then handed over the letter to the sub-divisional magistrate,

Rashid Ali Khan

, urging him to forward the same to the Prime Minister's Office.

“Today, we are sending a letter written in blood, requesting you to ban the movie Padmaavat. If the movie is not banned, we will not hesitate to flow river of blood in the country,” the letter read.

The protesters belonging to the Kshatriya community alleged that the movie was a direct attack on the dignity of their caste, as well as the culture of the nation. They said they would not tolerate such an affront on the culture of the nation.

One of the protesters, Akash Takur, said, “We demand the Prime Minister and the President of India to ban the movie completely, across the country. Today, we have sent a letter written in blood to them. If the government doesn’t pay heed to our voices, we will not hesitate to flow river of blood to stop the screening of the movie.”

Confirming the matter, sub-divisional magistrate Rashid Ali Khan said, “Today, over a dozen people came to my office and gave me a memorandum addressed to the PM and the President. They demanded that the movie must not be screened in Sambhal. Any decision on the movie will have to be taken by the government. We will provide security, if needed, to the cinema halls.”