MUMBAI: Eminent historian Romila Thapar's public lecture on secularism at Mumbai's K C College took place under tight police security on Monday. A police van stood vigil outside the college and a posse of cops was deployed both at the auditorium's entrance and the road outside. A metal detector screened those entering the venue.

"We had not asked for protection because we did not anticipate trouble. But this morning, we got a call from the police saying they wanted to provide protection in case there was a problem," said Irfan Engineer, director of the Centre for the Study of Society and Secularism, which organised the talk.