On Friday, Telugu actor Allu Arjun was arrested at his residence in Hyderabad in connection with the stampede that took place on December 4 at Sandhya Theatre during the premiere of his recently released film Pushpa 2: The Rule, which resulted in the death of a woman named Revathi.
Earlier today, during the court hearing, Allu Arjun’s lawyer drew a parallel to a similar tragic incident involving Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan and his film Raees in 2017, where a person also lost their life, while others were left injured.
The lawyer said, “The main question before the court was that is somebody doing a rash or negligent act? In Raees case, the actor threw clothes at the station, which led to a stampede. In that case he was not found criminally liable. However, in this case, the actor was only watching the film. So, it has to be seen if even negligence stands against him.”
Further, the lawyer shared the people were aware that Allu Arjun was arriving at the premiere, including the police. “Here the actor was not even doing anything whereas, in SRK’s case, the actor threw balls and crowds jumped to grab them,” he added.
During Raees incident, a man named Jitendra Solanki accused SRK of “criminal negligence and recklessness” for throwing gifts at his fans, which caused the stampede and death of a person. However, Khan’s lawyer defended the actor stating that throwing smiley balls and T-shirts could not be considered negligent or endangering human life or personal safety by any stretch of the imagination.
After 5 years, Khan was granted relief by Gujarat High Court. The court stated that Shah Rukh’s act could not “be stated to be acts of a very high degree of negligence or recklessness.”
