Mumbai: Complaint against 2 women for not standing up while national anthem played

A complaint has been filed against two women for not standing up while the national anthem was being played at a movie hall in Mumbai and thus showing 'disrespect' to the country.

Social worker Sheetal Mhatre on Sunday filed a complaint at the Amboli police station, while taking a dim view of the women not standing up at a movie hall at Infinity Mall in suburban Andheri when the national anthem was played, a police official said.

Mhatre, who had gone to the mall along with her friend Jyoti Bhatt on Sunday, apparently approached the two women, whose identity has been withheld, saying they should have stood up while the anthem was being played, they said.

The two women then allegedly hurled abuses at the complainant and also threatened to beat her, police said. The Amboli police have recorded statements of the two accused women, they added.

In Maharashtra, it is mandatory for all cinemas to play the national anthem before every film. A family was similarly asked to leave a movie hall in suburban Mumbai last year by the audience for not standing up while the national anthem was being played.