The lawyer of Allu Arjun, while arguing for interim bail in the Telangana High Court on Friday, referred to the 2017 stampede case involving Shah Rukh Khan.
Senior counsel S Niranjan Reddy, who appeared for Allu Arjun, said: "While actor Shahrukh Khan was on a train journey to promote his film Raees, the actor threw clothes at the station, which led to a stampede. Though a case was filed, the court held that the actor was not criminally liable."
Reddy further argued that the deceased woman was on the ground floor where the stampede occurred, while the actor was on the first floor. He said not only the actor, but even the producer wrote to the Sandhya theatre staff informing them about Allu Arjun's visit. "Everybody knew the actor was coming, even the Police knew. Here the actor was not even proactively doing anything, whereas in SRK's case, the actor threw balls, the crowd jumped to grab them," Reddy said.
The lawyer stated that the charges under Section 118 of BNS (voluntarily causing hurt or grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means) do not hold. "It mandates the use of dangerous weapons. On the face of it, it's not applicable".
He also submitted that the police were already trying to move the people before Allu Arjun reached the incident spot. "If something goes wrong, the Police will say we are not responsible, somebody else is responsible...This is a complete travesty and infringement of my personal liberty. What SC says is very clear- Interim orders are permitted," he said.
Meanwhile, the High Court expressed concern over the arrest of the actor. The petition to quash the FIR came before the bench headed by Justice Juvvadi Sridevi.
DJustice Sridevi orally observed that the arrest was bothering her. Expressing her inclination to give interim bail to the actor, the judge said: "It's actually bothering me. 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".
While the public prosecutor appearing for the state argued that Allu Arjun was not entitled to get any relief, the lawyer for the actor said for the actor to face the charges of culpable homicide, there has to be an intention. "When you read the FIR, does it say that Allu Arjun knew some death was going to happen? Even the instructions by the SHO don't say that there was a chance of death. The highest case that can be charged is 'death by negligence," Reddy argued.
'Ready to withdraw case'
Meanwhile, the complainant in the case of the stampede outside Hyderabad's Sandhya Theatre, which led to the arrest of Telugu superstar Allu Arjun, has said that he was willing to withdraw the case.
Bhaskar, the husband of the deceased 35-year-old Revathi, told reporters that he does not hold Allu Arjun responsible for his wife's death.
The stampede, which occurred on December 4 during the release of Pushpa 2, resulted in the death of Revathi and left her son injured after a massive crowd gathered to catch a glimpse of Allu Arjun.
Bhaskar, in his complaint, alleged that Allu Arjun and the theatre management had neglected to inform the police of the latter's plan to attend a screening of the film at the theatre. "I am ready to withdraw the case. I was not aware of the arrest, and Allu Arjun has nothing to do with the stampede that led to my wife’s death," he said adding that the police did not inform him of the actor's arrest.