Kirik Party actor Samyuktha Hegde was verbally abused and heckled at a park in Bengaluru on Friday by a group of people including All India Congress Committee member and civic activist Kavitha Reddy. Following the incident, Samyuktha Hegde and two of her friends went to the HSR Layout Police Station to file a complaint against Kavitha Reddy and the men who heckled them at the park adjacent to Agara Lake.
Speaking to TNM, HSR Layout Police Inspector Muni Reddy said that Samyuktha Hegde submitted a written complaint on Saturday morning, after which an FIR was registered against Kavitha Reddy and others.
“We have registered a case of assault and intimidation against Kavitha Reddy and other accused. Samyuktha submitted videos. She has accused Kavitha Reddy of assaulting her, which can be seen in the video,” Inspector Muni Reddy said.
On Friday morning, Samyuktha and two of her friends had gone to the park to exercise with hula hoops. She was wearing joggers and a sports bra while working out. Allegedly taking objection to the workout clothes that Samyuktha was wearing, Kavita Reddy and others asked them to leave the park. Kavitha charged at one of the women and later brought in the police.
In an Instagram live, Kavitha Reddy can be heard saying that Samyuktha was “dancing naked” and is heard telling the police personnel that she wanted to file a case accusing Samyuktha of “public indecency”.
It must be noted here that Samyuktha did not remove her pullover in the beginning of the video, she only does it when Kavita Reddy tells the police that the actor should be booked for indecent behaviour in public. It is then that an emotional Samyuktha removes her pullover and shows her workout clothes to the camera and the police asking what is wrong with her attire, TNM had earlier reported.
While Samyuktha questions the crowd that had gathered at the park and points out that she did not do anything wrong, a man wearing a red shirt threatens to “tell the media” that Samyuktha is “consuming drugs”.
“If you wear such clothes, we will have to hit you,” Kavitha Reddy can be heard saying in the video. Although Kavitha Reddy has issued a statement saying that she only objected to Samyuktha playing loud music in the park, which is against the rules, the videos, however, suggest otherwise.
“It's ridiculous to say that I was doing some moral policing when the fact remains that I go for a walk wearing shorts and many who come to Agara Lake wear what they want, without any dress code or restrictions,” Kavitha Reddy said in a statement she released after the incident.
However, she allegedly called Samyuktha and her friends “cabaret dancers” who were “stripping in public,” which was caught on camera.