An official from the Union home ministry said that an assessment by the Intelligence Bureau found there was a threat to the filmmaker’s life

Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri was given Y category security by the Centre on Friday, a week after the release of his film The Kashmir Files, PTI reported, citing unidentified government officials.

This will mean that seven to eight personnel from the Central Reserve Police Force will provide protection to Agnihotri round the clock. The Y category is the third-highest level of personal security in India.

An official from the Union home ministry said that an assessment by the Intelligence Bureau found there was a threat to the filmmaker’s life, The Indian Express reported.

“Based on the inputs, Y category security has been provided to him across the country,” the official said.

The Kashmir Files, which stars Anupam Kher, Pallavi Joshi, Darshan Kumaar and others, was released on March 11. The film’s story revolves around the exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from the region in the early 1990s due to militancy.

Through the past week, the Bharatiya Janata Party has been actively promoting the film. BJP-ruled state governments in eight states – Haryana, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Goa, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand – have exempted the film from entertainment tax.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Modi expressed support for the film at a BJP parliamentary party meeting and used it to criticise the Opposition. “Those who always carry the flag of freedom of expression, this entire group has been rattled these past five-six days,” he claimed.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Police has has asked its deputy commissioners to step up security arrangements in areas of the city with a “mixed population” in view of the release of the film.

Police said audiences in cinema theatres have been heard chanting slogans against “terrorists and enemies of India” during screenings of the movie. Many social media users have posted videos where members of the audience could be seen shouting anti-Muslim slogans in movie theatres.

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