KOLKATA: Days after a group of nine youths were heckled inside a theatre for not standing while the national anthem was being played, they have started getting support on the social media. The youths, part of a theatre group and alumni of the

, felt that it was not necessary to 'wear patriotism on the sleeve'.

It was on Saptami night when the group decided to go for a Bengali movie at the Star Theatre. They bought tickets for a 9.10pm show and reached the theatre on time. While six of them went inside, rest were waiting outside for another person to join them. " a scuffle broke out when we did not stand up when the national anthem was being played. We had taken a conscious decision after the Supreme Court bench had said that people do not need to stand up while the national anthem is being played," said Sammya Das, one of the group members.

Some people behind the group started asking them to stand up when they tried to explain their stand on the issue. "It seemed that they were not ready to pay any heed to whatever we said, instead they kept on asking us to stand. Very soon others joined them and started making comments at us. We were instantly branded as anti-nationals. Someone from rows in front of us was even more aggressive," recounted Arkoja Acharya, Sammya’s friend and another member of the group present at the theatre.

When the movie started, people stopped making comments for a while until it came to the interval. "Some of the viewers started targeting us again. This time we decided to protest and make our point," said Sammya. Just a year back, in October last year, the division bench of the Supreme Court had said that people do not need to stand up in cinema hall to be perceived as patriotic. The court had also added that it cannot be assumed that if someone is not standing up for the national anthem, he/she is less patriotic.

As the altercation started turning into a scuffle with almost 70 viewers trying to "teach them a lesson", the group decided to come out of the theatre. "As we came out, some of them followed us till the exit gate. That was even scarier," recounted Arkoja.

The group lodged a complaint against unknown persons at the Burtola police station on Thursday. "We have narrated the entire episode on the social networking sites and are getting support from people. The posts were shared and people stood up for the cause although there are critical comments too," said Sammya. "It is quite unfortunate that people not only want to discard the other voices, they instead try to become

to impose their opinions," he said.