Critically-acclaimed Indian documentary filmmaker Rakesh Sharma, who was allegedly detained and harassed while filming in midtown Manhattan in May last year, has sued New York City claiming that his constitutional rights were violated.
Sharma was making a film about ordinary people, including taxi drivers, with a handheld camera from the sidewalks of the city when he was detained by the New York police, searched and interrogated for hours before being released and told that he needed a permit for shooting a movie, the suit said.
Later, he returned to New York in November and applied for a permit, which was denied by the Mayor's Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting but it declined to provide him explanation for the decision.
"It's a sad day when the police think they can detain and mistreat someone for simply making a film on a public street in New York City," plaintiff Rakesh Sharma said. "I cooperated with them and answered all their questions, but they treated me like a criminal. It was wrong, and I was scared and humiliated."
The New York Civil Liberties Union, which filed the suit in conjunction with New York City Law School for Civil Rights Clinic, on behalf of Sharma, says that there are no written permit standards but the MOFTB requires applicants to have $1 million liability insurance.
The suit also seeks striking down of the film-permit system as 'constitutional'. Sharma has won several awards for his 2002 documentary Final Solutions depicting the Gujarat riots.
