Mumbai: Claiming that the Mumbai police have denied permission, the organisers of Mumbai’s well-known Kala Ghoda Arts Festival (KGAF) have cancelled a book discussion in which civil rights activist and academic Anand Teltumbde was scheduled to speak. The event, titled Incarcerated: Tales from Behind Bars, was meant to be held on Thursday evening. The cancellation was communicated through an email late evening on February 3. The speakers were to discuss Teltumbde’s book titled The Cell and the Soul: A Prison Memoir and included Neeta Kolhatkar, author of The Feared: Conversations with Eleven Political Prisoners and Naresh Fernandes, the editor of Scroll.i.Teltumbde, one of the 16 persons named and arrested in the controversial Elgar Parishad case, spent 31 months in Taloja Central Jail in Mumbai. Since his release, he has published a series of books, including his prison memoir, brought out by Bloomsbury.Speaking to The Wire, Teltumbde said an email was sent to him and the other two speakers – Kolhatkar and Fernandes – informing them that the event had to be cancelled after the Mumbai police saw one of the creatives promoting the talk that was circulated on social media.Calling the police’s interference “ridiculous”, Teltumbde said that the development feels strange, especially when his book has been in the public domain for some time and public events around his books have been happening over the past many months. “This is the first time such an objection is raised,” Teltumbde told The Wire. “The police could have raised an objection, but it was for the organisers of the festival to defend the event. They simply gave in,” he added.Kolhatkar, who also received the cancellation email, told The Wire, “I was infuriated to get the email.” Teltumbde is one of the 11 political prisoners she interviews in her book, and the cancelled event was to discuss The Feared as well, in the event moderated by Fernandes.The organisers of the event also asked the speakers to take down any social media posts that they may have shared about the now-cancelled event.Mumbai police are one of the “supporters” of the art festival that started on January 31 and ends on February 8. Among other collaborators include the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the Maharashtra state tourism department and the Mumbai Traffic Police. The KGAF is a premier city street festival which has been running for 25 years. It draws huge crowds over 10 days for its street stalls and cultural events, including literary discussions.A prolific writer, Teltumbde has been writing regular columns in newspapers and websites including his column The Unquiet Republic for The Wire and is widely interviewed by different news platforms. Teltumbde’s writings are usually critical of government policies and decisions.After spending over two and a half years as a pre-trial detainee, Teltumbde was granted bail by the Bombay high court on November 18, 2022 (with the order upheld by the Supreme Court, leading to his release on November 26, 2022). Since then, each time he has had to participate in any academic activities, he has had to move the special NIA court for permission.While the trial court has granted him permission to attend one such discussion in Chennai, he was recently denied permission to attend another one at the Kochi Literature Festival. The trial court, while denying him permission, said that allowing Teltumbde permission to attend an academic event outside of Maharashtra amounts to “academic luxury”. Incidentally, the same court today, February 4, granted him permission to attend his niece’s wedding in Bhopal.