'Why was I detained?': Dhurandhar actress Ayesha Khan questions Mumbai police after brief custody during protest

Former Bigg Boss contestant and actress Ayesha Khan was detained by the Mumbai Police on Wednesday while attending a protest held in solidarity with NEET aspirants in Mumbai. Sharing multiple videos on social media. Khan alleged she had been standing peacefully on the road when the police took her into custody and put her in a police bus.

The videos show Ayesha being pushed inside the police van by female police officers even as she is seen resisting and asking why she was being taken into custody.

Ayesha Khan was a wildcard entry in Bigg Boss 17 and later attained stardom after featuring in the Dhurandhar song Shararat.

Ayesha Khan detained by Mumbai police

In a series of videos posted on her Instagram, Ayesha appeared visibly shaken as she described the incident.

"My hands are literally shivering right now. I've been detained in the police van just for standing on the road peacefully. I didn't say a word. I didn't even start the protest. I was just standing because my brother and my male friends were detained, and we were just standing on the road. Me and two of my other female friends," she said.

In another video, Ayesha was heard asking police officials where they were taking those who had been detained.

In a separate clip, she requested officers not to push her as she was being escorted to the police bus.

Mumbai protests in solidarity with NEET aspirants

The protest in Mumbai was organised in support of the student-led demonstrations in Delhi over irregularities in the NEET examination. Similar protests have been held in several cities in the last few days. Actors like Gurfateh Singh Pirzada, and Laapataa Ladies star Pratibha Ranta had also taken part in Tuesday’s protest march in Mumbai.

Later in a longer video recorded from Worli Police Station, Ayesha stated that she had reached the protest venue around 4 pm to show solidarity with NEET aspirants and students who had died by suicide. She alleged that the group had not even begun protesting when police intervened. According to the actor, they had neither raised slogans nor displayed placards and were simply standing on the roadside after some of her friends and her brother were taken into a police van.

Ayesha said that around 15 police personnel, including women officers, surrounded her and two of her female friends and asked them to get into the police van. "I kept asking why we were being detained. We were just standing on the road. We hadn't even started protesting. Nobody answered us," she said.

The actor further claimed that she and her friends were forcibly taken to Worli Police Station. While she said the officers at the police station spoke to them politely, she questioned the actions of the personnel at the protest site. Ayesha alleged that she and her friends were pushed while being detained and asked what law they had violated.

She also claimed that they were only three people standing together and questioned why they were detained when, according to her, the restrictions being cited had not yet come into effect.

Ayesha later updated that she was released and was heading to another police station to get her brother.

Who is Ayesha Khan?

Model-turned-actress Ayesha first gained national attention when she appeared in Bigg Boss 17. Since then, she has featured in a web series, Dil Ko Rafu Karr Lei and Kapil Sharma-starrer Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon 2. She gained major popularity after featuring in the song Shararat in Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar alongside actress Krystal D’Souza. Ayesha is quite active on social media, often sharing her views on social and current affairs. She also enjoys a strong following on Instagram.