Cinema VinesActress Ayesha Khan, known for her appearance in the Dhurandhar special song “Shararat,” says she was taken into custody by Mumbai Police on Wednesday while trying to join a student protest in the Dadar neighbourhood. According to Khan, she arrived at the site around 4 pm to support the demonstrations that have spread across the city, but before she could raise a slogan, a police officer informed her that protests were not permitted there.
In a video she posted on Instagram, Khan claims that roughly fifteen police officers, both men and women, surrounded her and her friends and ordered them to board a police van. She says she resisted, but was forcibly pulled in by four or five female officers. “I used all my strength to try not getting into the van but they pulled us in,” she states. The clip shows her being dragged into the vehicle, and she repeats her question in the footage: “Why are you detaining us?” No explanation was given, and the group was taken to Worli police station.
While officers at the Worli station treated the group with respect, Khan reports that she still did not receive any clarification about her detention. She continues to ask why she and others were detained before they had even begun protesting. In a subsequent Instagram post, she shared another video that appears to show her being pushed into the van and wrote, “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!” She laments that “standing on the street has become a crime” and that the police are harming citizens’ democratic rights.
The incident comes amid a broader wave of student protests that started in New Delhi and have spread to multiple Indian cities. Protesters are demanding accountability and calling for the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Khan’s experience highlights the tensions between law enforcement and activists as the demonstrations continue to unfold across the country.
