Amaravati, Dec 30 (PTI) Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan on Monday said that law does not give preferential treatment to anyone while reacting to the saga of Tollywood actor Allu Arjun’s brief arrest.
Holding Allu Arjun responsible for the death of a 35-year-old woman and serious injuries to her minor son during a stampede at a theatre in Hyderabad when they went to watch ‘Pushpa 2’ movie, Hyderabad Police recently arrested the actor.
“Some are saying that the Telangana government should have gone soft, but the law should not give preferential treatment to anyone. That’s what the law says,” said Kalyan, adding that law does not care how popular or powerful a person is.
Kalyan is a close relative of Allu Arjun.
The actor-politician, while addressing reporters, reminded that he had declared in the Assembly that a mistake committed by him should also be punished.
Further, Kalyan observed that the makers of ‘Pushpa 2: The Rule’ should have called on the family of the deceased woman immediately without delay. A gesture like this could have averted the situation from spiralling out of control and a “mountain being made out of a molehill”, he said.
“What they (movie makers) could have done was to go to the victim’s home the very next day. The producers, director, or anyone from the team should have expressed their condolences and shown they are with the family in their grief. Had they done this, it wouldn’t have escalated like this,” said Kalyan.
Terming the death of the 35-year-old woman and the hospitalisation of her son as “a very painful episode”, the Janasena founder said the deceased woman and her family wanted to have a nice evening, return home, and share the experience, but it ended tragically.
Noting that blaming the hero (Arjun) alone is not right, Kalyan said that when the cinema was made as a team, then the problem should also be tackled as a team.
“But what happened was that the entire blame was pushed on the hero, making him the lonely target. I didn’t find that correct. During the later consequences, no one has guided them well and once a case has been filed, you don’t question the police,” he said.
Calling the fiasco a team fault, the Deputy CM said the producers and directors should have worked as a team and stood by Allu Arjun, instead of “isolating” him.
According to Kalyan, Telangana CM A Revanth Reddy has always stood by the Telugu film industry and for this particular movie, he approved benefits shows and hiking ticket prices.
However, Kalyan said Reddy had to take a ‘tough call’ and he took that call and highlighted that if a case had been filed against him (Kalyan), he cannot simply quash it by virtue of being the Deputy Chief Minister as the system would take it over. PTI STH KH
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