A day before the release of "Padmaavat", groups like Karni Sena, which have vowed to block the film in defiance of Supreme Court orders, intensified their protests that started last evening. Security was tightened outside movie theatres in parts of Haryana, Gujarat and Rajasthan, the states that had initially banned the movie. This morning, protesters blocked the Delhi-Jaipur highway. The Karni Sena has asked social organisations across the country to ensure that the movie can't be screened. Maharashtra and Gujarat police have arrested many Karni Sena workers to keep the peace.

After the top court's unequivocal order yesterday rejecting the final attempts by Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh to ban the film 'Padmaavat'', protests against the release of the movie turned violent. Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra stressed "People can't come and say law and order problems, ban the movie. Let us not come to a state where the exhibition of a movie, despite certified by the censor board, is crippled." Groups of people vandalised shops at a mall and a cinema hall in Ahmedabad and targeted vehicles parked.

Nearly a dozen two-wheelers, many of them belonging to a fast-food chain, were gutted. Section 144 has also been imposed in Gurgaon till Sunday to maintain law and order. Police also had to fire two shots in the air to disperse the mob. The Karni Sena, which has been spearheading the protests against the film, responded to a letter by Sanjay Leela Bhansali productions and disclosed that a six member panel would watch the film before its release as proposed by the filmmakers. Police presence has been beefed up a day ahead of the film's release.