Aryan Khan, son of actor Shah Rukh Khan and producer Gauri Khan, was granted bail on Thursday after spending 25 days in jail in connection with the cruise ship drugs case. Well-wishers breathed a huge sigh of relief and praised the Bombay High Court’s decision.
The Bombay High Court granted bail to Khan and two other accused in the case, namely Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha, on Thursday. Minutes after the judgment was announced, several celebrities took to Twitter and hailed the decision.
Actor Sonu Sood wrote in Hindi, “When time judges, then there is no need for witnesses.”
Swara Bhasker, the Hindi actor, expressed her relief by simply writing, “Finally!” while actor R Madhavan wrote, “Thank god. As a father I am so relieved… May all good and positive things happen.”
Other celebrities like Ram Gopal Varma, Kanika Dhillion, Malaika Arora, and Mika Singh too took to social media and applauded the court’s decision.
Some others, however, pointed out that the judgement came after long and it reflects the fate of other accused who have “lesser resources” to fight their case. Producer Atul Kasbekar wrote, “Imagine how many people with lesser resources have unnecessarily languished in assorted Indian jails thanks to a seriously twisted/flawed system. While I’m glad HC has granted bail, judges in lower courts need to understand that this reversal is a [question] mark on their judicial abilities.”
Filmmaker Sanjay Gupta wrote, “I’m very happy that Aryan Khan has gotten bail but also very upset with a system that kept a young man behind bars for more than 25 days for something he never did. That has to change!”
Journalist Sagarika Ghose echoed similar sentiments and wrote, “Bail, not jail should ALWAYS be the guiding mantra for cases such as these. As Aryan Khan gets bail, spare a thought for the thousands of undertrials languishing in jail for years.”
Recommended
Meanwhile, a preliminary investigation was started by the Mumbai police after extortion allegations were levelled against Narcotics Control Bureau’s Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede in Khan’s arrest case. Wankhede is already facing a vigilance inquiry ordered by the NCB. However, the anti-drug agency’s Deputy Director General Gyaneshwar Singh has said that Wankhede will continue to remain the investigating officer in the cruise ship drugs case unless substantial evidence is found against him.
On October 3, the NCB allegedly seized 13 gm of cocaine, 21 gm of charas or hashish, 22 pills of MDMA (ecstasy), 5 gm mephedrone, and cash worth Rs 1.33 lakh when raiding a party aboard a cruise ship. Khan, who was among the attendees, was taken into NCB custody, along with a few others, including Merchant and Dhamecha.