Spandan Docu Theatre

In the year 2001, Indian Parliament was attacked by a group of terrorists. In this connection Syed Abdul Rehman Gillani-Professor of Zakir Hussain College, Saukat Hussain Guru and Afzal Ansari were arrested by the police. This case was put up on POTA’s special court, and the play is based on the incident that took place in the house of Soumi Pancholi, the defense lawyer, on the night before the date of final hearing.
Soumi Pancholi is a young and good looking lawyer from Delhi. She has a personal relation with a painter Rajan Saxena. Soumi does not want to mary Rajan but their relationship contains everything. Soumi and Rajan usually live together as a couple. Rajan made plenty of nude pictures of Soumi, but he has some reservation to exhibit these. As soon as the curtain raises, it shows Soumi is having a telephonic conversation with Rajan Saxena and projecting her nude paintings through projector. During the conversation it comes out that the final hearing of the case where Gillani is one of the accused is on the next day.

In another zone on the stage, Afzal Ansari, the convicted terrorist, is being questioned by Pravin the assistant of Soumi. All India Democratic Committee (AIDC) led by Nandita Haksar, a lawyer and social activist, are having a protest rally against the Government’s action regarding Prof. Gillani. Suddenly Police intercepted and try to wash out the demonstration. Big scuffle is going on.

Sampa Sen as Soumi Pancholi in 16 Millimeter.
Soumi is having a discussion with her junior lawyer and the members of AIDC regarding the salient features of the case.
At the same time normal life of Delhi city is totaly jeopardised by the Police and intellegence.
Where alone Soumi starts preparing herself for the next day’s hearing with her arguments and logic in favour of her client, Prof. Gillani. Soumi points out that, the most important point in Prof. Gillani’s favour is the document pertaining to the registration and purchasing of Gillani’s Cell phone. Suddenly the doorbell rang.
When enquired, a man named Rajinder Sharma, presents himself as a CBI officer who wants to have a talk with Soumi regarding Gillani’s case. Although Soumi was not at all interested in entertaining Rajinder’s queries initially but Rajinder, with very clever moves, involves Soumi in the discussion. Rajinder Sharma asks Soumi not to defend Gillani in the case. He also pointed out it is the lawyers like Soumi have indirectly helped Massod Azhar to form Jaish-e-Mohammad.
Rajinder tests Soumi’s nerves by mentioning about Soumi’s personal life, her relation with Rajan Saxena, and about her father who was an army major sacrificed his life during the India-Bangladesh war. During the discussion Rajinder asks Soumi to give them some time to gather more evidence against Gillani. Soumi counters by telling that CBI requires time to cover up the existence of the mastermind behind the attack. She points out that during the parliament attack the terrorists called up several times on a particular number, which belonged to a person with a code name of “16 MM”.
According to her CBI knows the present database of Command, the present mobile service provider, keeps record for two and half years. This service is going to get transferred to Hutch, whose database keeps track of the calls for 45 days only. And hence the record of the calls made by the terrorists can easily be wiped off.
During the heated exchange of words, an unalarmed Soumi reveals that the important document pertaining to the registration of Gillani’s cellphone, which is a major evidence of Gillani’s innocence, is lying with Manahor Thakur, the owner of the shop from where the mobile phone was purchased. And Manohar at that moment is hiding in a Guest House in Noida.
As soon as the information comes out, Rajinder springs up at calls up someone instructing to kill Manohar. He also tells Soumi at gun point that in reality he is a terrorist.
As soon as he flues, Soumi calls up Pravin and CBI Joint Director to give protection to Manohar while briefly telling them about the incident.
Suddenly the phone ring up, and Nandita Haksar, the AIDC activists informs Soumi that Manohar was severely injured by a truck accident, while coming to Delhi from Hariyana. Soumi just breaks down.