The Telangana High Court granted the interim bail during the hearing of a quash petition, filed by the actor, subject to execution of a personal bond of ₹50,000.
Published Dec 13, 2024 | 6:50 PM ⚊ Updated Dec 13, 2024 | 9:12 PM
Allu Arjun being taken to jail. (Screengrab)
The High Court of Telangana granted bail to actor Allu Arjun in the Hyderabad stampede case, hours after a trial court remanded him in judicial custody for 14 days.
The national award-winning actor was arrested from his Jubilee Hills residence around noon on Friday, 13 December, and was produced before the Nampally court, which remanded him. He was shifted to jail under heavy security.
On 4 December, Allu Arjun attended a screening of his latest movie, Pushpa-2: The Rule at Sandhya Theatre. A stampede-like situation arose as fans rushed towards him, and his security detail tried to whisk him away.
A 39-year-old mother, Revathi, was killed while trying to protect her son, who has been hospitalised with injuries.
The police registered a case against the theatre management, Allu Arjun, and his security team under sections 105, 118(1) r/w 3(5) BNS Act.
Soon after the actor’s arrest, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy said the law would take its course and there would be no interference in the case.
“Law will take its own course, and nobody will intervene in the investigation,” he said in an official statement.
Amidst high drama on Friday, Revathi’s husband Magudampalli Bhaskar said he was willing to withdraw the case.
“We went to the Sandhya Theatre because my son wanted to watch the film. There is no mistake on the part of Allu Arjun. I am ready to withdraw the case, I wasn’t informed by the police about Allu Arjun’s arrest, and while in the hospital, I saw the news, and got to know that he was arrested,” he told reporters.
The Telangana High Court granted the interim bail during the hearing of a quash petition, filed by the actor, subject to execution of a personal bond of ₹50,000.
He was also directed to cooperate with the investigation and refrain from interfering with the ongoing investigation or influencing witnesses.
On Wednesday, 11 December, the actor approached the Telangana High Court, seeking to quash the FIR registered, and requested a stay on all further proceedings, including arrest, pending the disposal of the petition.
As reported by Bar and Bench, a single bench of Justice Juvvadi Sridevi observed that Allu Arjun could not be held liable for the incident on a prima facie basis, as he had simply attended the movie premiere after obtaining the necessary permission.
The court also dismissed the state’s argument that Allu Arjun should have known that an unfortunate incident could occur by attending the screening. The judge questioned, “Is he responsible for the tragedy that happened? What knowledge did he have? He had taken permission.”
Justice Sridevi asked whether a person could be made to spend time in jail even for a day merely because of him being an actor unless he was responsible for the incident. “Because he is an actor, he cannot be deprived of his right. As a citizen, he too has the right to life and liberty,” the court said.
The Government Pleader opposed the plea, arguing that Allu Arjun knew well that an incident could happen if he attended the event. However, the court rejected this argument.
Senior Advocate Niranjan Reddy, representing the actor, pointed out that the FIR and remand report did not suggest that attending the screening could lead to death or any other specific consequences.
Later, Central Police Zone Deputy Commissioner issued a clarification, blaming Allu Arjun and his security team for the tragedy.
In a media statement, the officer said the event organiser did not provide any detail, but just submitted a letter.
“Despite this we arranged suitable bandobust for crowd management outside the theatre. The crowd was well in control till the actor arrived,” the statement said.
The officer said, the actor, on arriving at the theatre, waved at the crowd through the sunroof of his vehicle. Even as the crowd pushed forward, Allu Arjun’s private security personnel started pushing people to make way for his vehicle.
“His team was intimated to take him back citing large public gathering but they didn’t act on it and Mr. Allu Arjun was there inside the theatre for more than two hours. Therefore, it is clear that adequate police bandobust was in place, it was his actions which led to this unfortunate incident, in which a lady died and her son is still unconscious on ventilator even after 9 days of the incident,” the deputy commissioner said.
The officer also refuted the charge that the police team that went to arrest the actor misbehaved with him. The police provided the actor time to change his clothes.
“The police personnel waited outside and took him into custody when he came out. There was no use of force or any misbehavior with him by any police personnel. He was given enough time to interact with his family and wife and he himself came out and entered the police vehicle,” the statement said.
(Edited by Sumavarsha)
