Beauty queen's 'torture' film barred in Kashmir

Anara Gupta

JAMMU, India, Saturday (AFP) - Right-wing activists yesterday stopped cinemas in India's Jammu region from showing a film based on the experiences of a former teen beauty queen accused by police of being a porn star. Anara Gupta, now a 21-year-old law student and aspiring Bollywood actress, alleged that she and her family members were tortured during 11 days in police custody in 2004.

At the time she confessed to police that she had starred in the pornographic film, but later retracted the confession saying she was forced to do so."The film's goal was to show how a confession was forced from me that I was on a pornographic CD," Gupta, who was Miss Jammu at the age of 15 in 2001, told AFP from the Bollywood hub Mumbai.

Right-wing Hindu group Shiv Sena activists burn an effigy of former Miss Jammu Anara Gupta protesting the release of her film in Jammu, India, Friday, June 22, 2007. AP

"My mother, my older brother and two younger brothers were all in illegal custody." The film "Miss Anara," made by minor Bollywood director Yogesh Bhardwaj, was released nationwide Friday -- but not in Gupta's home region Jammu, part of India's northermost Jammu and Kashmir state.

Activists from the Hindu Shiv Sena group, concerned about the effect of the film on Jammu girls, threatened cinema owners with arson if they screened it."The way Anara Gupta is becoming famous in films, Jammu girls will think they should act in blue films and become famous," said activist Anand Sharma.

After three years of investigation and the examination of the CD in forensic laboratories, police are yet to confirm whether the woman in the film is Gupta.

"I don't know why they are still doing the investigation," said Gupta. "I think they are dragging out the case to protect their officers."Pornography is strictly forbidden in India, and even on-screen kisses by Bollywood stars are severely frowned upon.