A video has gone viral on social media which shows a Muslim couple forced to evict from a theatre in Mumbai or Bengaluru for not standing up when the national anthem was being played.
In the heated argument between the couple and the people who took objection, the Muslim gentleman says that it is his wish whether to stand or not when the national anthem is being played. It is true!
There is nothing in the law which says that standing up is mandatory when the national anthem is being played.
The angry people led by one man threaten to slap him and call him a Pakistani. Ultimately, the couple chose to leave the theatre to loud applause from some in the audience.
The irony of the whole episode is a bit striking and the incident itself a bit unnerving. First of all, the theater appears to be a multiplex screen which means that the people are more or less educated and reasonably well-to-do.
The movie being screened was the Ranbir-Deepika starrer, ‘Tamasha’, a love flick. But there was anything but love at the theatre that day. And the incident might seem a brazen violation of fundamental rights of the couple in the theater.
Who is right and who is wrong? Twitter as usual is divided over the issue. While there are people who have trolled the audience for evicting the couple, there are others who have justified it.
“Flags of Pakistan and ISIS are hoisted in our country and we stay silent. Can’t these couple being an educated one at that at least show respect to our national anthem? Is it asking too much of them?” and there was one person who said, “Why play the national anthem in a movie theatre in the first place?”
Which of them is right?
