Aamir Khan’s niece Zayn Marie took to Instagram on Sunday to post a reel documenting injury marks on her arms, fingers, and legs, following her detention by the Mumbai Police during a protest on Saturday.
Addressing the camera in the video, Zayn stated, “Do not scare us so much that no fear is left in the first place.”
The caption of the post read, “she exposes (the state) on the internet.”
During the demonstration at August Kranti Maidan on Saturday, police detained Zayn alongside actors Imran Khan and Lekha Washington, a moment she captured and shared on Instagram earlier.
The trio were released a few hours later, following which, they took to social media to share updates of the protest and their experience with police brutality.
In her Instagram Stories, Zayn documented being escorted into a police van without being told where they were headed. While inside the vehicle, she raised slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah while demanding Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation, with passers-by joining in from the street.
In another video, she claimed that when the officials were asked why they were detaining them, they gave no clear explanation. When they eventually left the police station they were allegedly followed by an officer.
“I’ve been asking him why we were detained, but he has no clue either. He just says, ‘Two minutes,’ and then goes on the phone for hours,” Zayn said.
A video depicted Imran and Zayn questioning police about the reason for their detention. The officers walked away without any response and Imran bid them goodbye with a “Jai Hind”.
Amid the tension inside the police van, Zayn posted a lighter moment featuring Imran Khan that nodded to his 2008 debut, Jaane Tu...Ya Jaane Na. In Abbas Tyrewala’s cult romantic comedy, Imran’s character Jai Rathore had to get arrested, ride a horse, and get into a fight to prove himself a true “Ranjore ka Rathore,” drawing a humorous real-life parallel to their detention.
Recalling the film’s plot, Zayn asked Imran whether he had ever ridden a horse, gone to jail, and gotten into a fight. Chuckling at the question, Imran replied that he had ridden a horse before but had never physically assaulted someone, while wondering aloud whether their police detention counted toward the jail requirement.
“Ho sakta hai (it’s possible),” he said.
Demonstrations were organised by the Cockroach Janata Party to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.
While Mumbai Police stated that the gathering at August Kranti Maidan lacked formal permission, CJP workers maintained that they had emailed the authorities without receiving a reply.
The protests also spanned other regions, most notably in Delhi, where over 7,000 demonstrators, including opposition politicians and CJP leaders, were detained around Jantar Mantar before they could assemble.