LETTER FROM NEW DELHI
Valentin Hénault entered India on August 10, 2023, where he planned to stay two months. The young man, aged 29, who studied cinema and documentary at Paris-Diderot University and directed a first short film, The Man from the Basement, is preparing a film on atrocities committed against Dalit women. His stay very quickly turned into a nightmare. A very bad trip in Indian fashion.
For two months, from Jharkhand and Bihar, he met Dalit families from village to village – Indians presented as at the bottom of the social hierarchy – then continued his research in October in Uttar Pradesh. The end of his stay is approaching, he has booked his return plane ticket for France for October 19, 2023, where he hopes to find financing and a production house before returning to India to make his documentary.
On October 10, 2023, in Gorakhpur, a demonstration of peasant women was held to demand land from Dalits, “Ambedkar’s people’s march”, to which he attended, cautiously, as an observer. He knows the reputation of the city.
Gorakhpur is famous for being home to a Hindu monastery of the Nath Yogi religious movement, led by the head of government of this state, Yogi Adityanath. This fundamentalist monk, both religious and politician, member of the Indian People’s Party (BJP), is known for his crusades against Muslim and Christian minorities and against Dalits. He belongs to the high Thakur caste and rules his state with an iron fist and imprisons opponents and demonstrators in the name of public order.
More than 5,000 people participated in the march that day. Mr. Hénault goes there at midday. A speaker at the podium recognizes him and mentions his name to welcome the presence of international observers. A few minutes later, he is surrounded by local intelligence agents. Around thirty members of the gathering were arrested.
After a few customary questions, the young man is released. When he returned to his hotel, he noticed the presence of people on motorcycles. ” Weird “, he says to him. At 7 p.m., police officers appeared in front of his room and took him to the police station. Repeated interrogations, fingerprinting, medical examination, Mr. Hénault spent his first night at the station. He manages to send messages on his phone to the French embassy to explain his situation and ask for help. She gives him the contact of a lawyer.
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