The Gujarat High Court (HC) on Wednesday quashed a 2017 criminal case against Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan in connection with a stampede at the Vadodara railway station.
The case was registered for allegedly committing acts endangering the life of others after a man suffered a heart attack at the Vadodara railway station during the ‘Raees’ promotion event. He was rushed to a hospital where doctors declared him dead after the examination.
Justice Nikhil Kariel granted SRK’s request to quash the criminal case against him as well as the summons issued by a Vadodara court. SRK had petitioned the Supreme Court after a lower court summoned him under Section 204 of the CrPC (for securing the attendance of the accused).
A court of the chief judicial magistrate in Vadodara issued summons to Khan after determining that there was sufficient ground for proceedings against him under sections 336, 337, and 338 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for allegedly committing acts endangering the life or personal safety of others and causing simple and grievous harm to them.
During the stampede caused by the people eager to catch a glimpse of the superstar who had arrived on a train. A few others were injured in the incident.
SRK was travelling from Mumbai to Delhi on the August to promote his film Raees, and when the train arrived in Vadodara, hundreds of his fans rushed to the platform to catch a glimpse of him.
The superstar threw’smiley balls’ and ‘t-shirts’ at the audience, causing a chaos.
Jitendra Solanki filed a criminal complaint against Khan in Vadodara court.
The complainant accused Khan of ‘criminal negligence and recklessness,’ which resulted in a stampede and the death of a person.
The victim’s relative had filed an appeal in the high court, claiming that Khan caused chaos at the railway station by throwing balls and t-shirts at the crowd of his fans on the platform.
Mihir Thakore, Khan’s lawyer, argued that throwing’smiley balls’ and t-shirts cannot be considered rash or negligent in any way, endangering human life or personal safety.
The high court noted in its order that the complaint against Khan was filed by someone who had no direct connection to the incident in question.
The HC also stated that it must consider whether it is fair and justifiable to hold a trial against Khan in Vadodara, which would inconvenience ordinary citizens of the city.