Hours after Allu Arjun’s arrest in the Pushpa 2 premiere stampede case in which a woman named Revathi died, the Telangana High Court granted interim bail to the actor. About an hour before the High Court’s ruling, the Nampally Court had remanded Allu Arjun to 14 days in judicial custody.
“We will grant interim bail for a certain period, and let them avail appropriate remedies meanwhile,” said Justice Juvvadi Sridevi. “Just because he is an actor, can he be held like this? There are no ingredients...On this earth, he has the right to life and liberty. It can't be taken away by virtue of being an actor,” she said, according to LiveLaw.
The Telangana High Court was hearing a petition filed by Allu Arjun earlier on December 11 to quash the FIR against him over the stampede at Sandhya 70 mm theatre on December 4 in which Revathi died. Her son was critically injured in the stampede, triggered by Allu Arjun’s visit to the theatre for a premiere show of his film, Pushpa 2: The Rule. Following Allu Arjun’s arrest, Revathi’s husband Bhaskar said Allu Arjun wasn’t at fault for visiting the theatre, and that he was willing to withdraw the case against him.
Arguing to quash the FIR and the charge of culpable homicide in particular, Allu Arjun’s counsel referred to a similar incident involving Shah Rukh Khan, who was accused of causing a stampede at Vadodara Railway Station while promoting his film Raees in 2017. The case was quashed by the Gujarat High Court, and this verdict was later upheld by the Supreme Court.
Arguing on behalf of Allu Arjun, advocate Niranjan Reddy said, “It is not their fear that [Allu Arjun] will go away, this [arrest] is just for sensationalism,” Bar and Bench reported.
Allu Arjun, his security team, and the management of Sandhya theatre were booked under Sections 105 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 108 (voluntarily causing hurt) read with Section 3 clause 5 (acts done by several in furtherance of common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The police arrested one of the theatre’s partners, the general manager, and the lower balcony in-charge on December 8.
Police arrested Allu Arjun from his residence in Hyderabad on the afternoon of Friday, December 13. After recording his statement at Chikkadpally Police Station, he was taken to Gandhi Hospital for a medical check-up. The police team led by Hyderabad Central Zone Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Akanksh Yadav reportedly questioned Allu Arjun for nearly two hours in light of the statements made by eyewitnesses.
Several politicians, including Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader KT Rama Rao and BJP MP Bandi Sanjay, expressed support for the actor. While KTR condemned the “high-handed behaviour” of the Revanth Reddy government, Bandi Sanjay said that a “star of his stature…deserved better treatment.”
Hyderabad police had blamed Allu Arjun’s personal security team for “pushing the public, which further aggravated the situation as there was already a huge gathering at the theatre.” While it’s not unusual for Telugu movie stars to visit certain theatres at RTC X roads for their movie premieres, Hyderabad police alleged that neither the theatre management nor the actor’s team informed them about his visit so they could have deployed personnel to manage the crowd.
Allu Arjun on December 6 announced assistance of Rs 25 lakh for Revathi’s family and said that he was "deeply heartbroken." Allu Arjun also promised to take care of the medical expenses of her injured son. However, he faced criticism for not taking accountability for the incident or apologising for the stampede.
(With IANS inputs)