Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, arrested in the Mumbai drug bust case, walked out of Arthur Road jail after nearly a month. A battery of India’s top lawyers including former attorney general for India Mukul Rohatgi, Karanjawala & Co. team and eminent lawyer Satish Maneshinde and his team had steered the bail proceedings in the Bombay HC on October 28. Finally, Bombay HC granted bail, however, imposing 14 stringent bail conditions on him.
Aryan Khan’s bail was delayed as Mumbai’s Special NDPS Court had on Wednesday, October 20 rejected his bail plea in connection with the high-profile Mumbai Cruise drug bust case.
We had reported earlier on how Anil Singh, representing NCB, referred to a sensitive Whatsapp chat of Aryan Khan and hinted at the involvement of foreign nationals regarding bulk procurement of hard drugs.
On the same day NDPS Court rejected Aryan Khan’s bail plea, his lawyers moved Bombay High Court seeking an urgent hearing in the case. The court, in turn, had agreed to hear the case on October 26.
Lawyers question Bombay HC’s preferential treatment to Aryan Khan
A section of lawyers had then questioned the Bombay High Court’s decision to give Aryan Khan preferential treatment. The lawyers expressed disbelief ahead of the hearing at the preferential treatment accorded to celebrities, despite the fact that their clients’ bail applications had been waiting in various matters for several months since the High Court has not set a date to hear them.
“We have no problem with the early hearing of Aryan Khan’s case but why is the High Court treating different cases differently so far as giving dates to hear bail application is concerned,” said Anand S. Jondhale, a Supreme Court advocate who also practices in the Bombay High Court.
Jondhale claimed that one of his clients has been detained for several months and that the Bombay High Court has yet to schedule a hearing on the bail application. “The law in the country doesn’t say that a Bollywood star’s son case will be heard on priority whereas other accused will languish in jail for an indefinite period,” he added.
Circus outside Shah Rukh Khan’s house in full swing as Aryan Khan comes back home on bail
In the midst of all of this, junior Khan, who is accused of a serious crime, was released from the Arthur Road jail and arrived at his Bandra home, ‘Mannat,’ where the circus was in full swing. A sea of crazed fans and media personnel were seen falling over each other to catch a glimpse of him. Fans are celebrating the fact that ‘Prince Aryan Khan’ has walked out of jail, even if out on bail.
Social media is awash with visuals where people are seen playing dhols, dancing, cheering, bursting of fire-crackers and holding banners and placards welcoming the privileged starkid.
Mumbai: Fans gather outside actor Shahrukh Khan’s residence ‘Mannat’ with a “welcome home Aryan Khan” poster.
— ANI (@ANI) October 30, 2021
Aryan Khan is reaching home after spending weeks in Arthur Road Jail in drugs-on-cruise case. pic.twitter.com/90wwsB2eog
Call it Tamasha or celebration.. this is what it is !! #AryanKhan’s welcome at Mannat. This is @iamsrk’s power. pic.twitter.com/cdBe8xuGRp
— Rohit Khilnani (@rohitkhilnani) October 30, 2021
मन्नत के बाहर जलाए जा रहे ये पटाखे समाज के हित में भाईचारे का संदेश देते हैं और धूएं के साथ ऑक्सीजन छोड़ते हैं।
— Bharat Singh Diwakar (@DiwakarSpeaks) October 30, 2021
लेकिन दिवाली वाले पटाखे जहरीले होते हैं जो समाज और पर्यावरण के लिए बिल्कुल भी अच्छे नहीं होते और उनको जलाने पर आपको जेल भी जाना पड़ सकता है। #दो_टूक #firecrackers pic.twitter.com/cdWjIpxXCH
Interestingly, only two days earlier, the Maharashtra government, led by Uddhav Thackeray, issued orders advising citizens to refrain from bursting firecrackers during Diwali in order to reduce air pollution. These directives are obviously for the Hindu festival. The abundant use of firecrackers on the release of ‘Prince Aryan Khan’ is unquestionably an exception, as there has been no check or resistance from the authorities.
Besides, a large gathering of media personnel has also huddled outside Shah Rukh Khan’s residence which reportedly delayed the car’s entry into the residential premises.
#WATCH Aryan Khan reaches his home ‘Mannat’ after being released from Arthur Road Jail in Mumbai
— ANI (@ANI) October 30, 2021
A large gathering of media personnel outside Shah Rukh Khan’s residence delayed the car’s entry into the residential premises pic.twitter.com/Zgay7BQQ8N
‘As if a war hero’: Social media users flummoxed at the euphoria around the release of an accused in a drug case
Many netizens have been perplexed as to why these fans, Bollywood celebrities and especially the media are ecstatic as if Aryan Khan had accomplished something significant or noteworthy.
“Media showing as if he fought a battle for India and returning home a hero”, rued a piqued user.
Bro Aryan Khan is SRK’s son, Media showing as if he fought a battle for India on the border and returning home a hero.
— Niru (@niranjannn16) October 30, 2021
Freedom fighter nahi tha, Charsi tha saala.
— Satyam Singh (@MyFreakyTweets) October 30, 2021
चरसी है तो क्या हुआ, है तो सेलब्रिटी और ऊपर से खान का बेटा! सोने में सुहागा। बेशर्म बिकाऊ मीडिया को और क्या चाहिए? pic.twitter.com/IaUld5iWvL
— Mrs Hira Sharma (@MrsHiraSharma) October 30, 2021
Aryan Khan is out on bail, that too in a serious drug case and more importantly, the case is not even closed yet, exclaimed a social media flummoxed at the hysteria around Aryan Khan’s release.
Yeahh feels like whole bollywood are proud of aryan khan like he has achieved something…. He is just out on bail…. Case is still on….
— Deepankar Majhi (@MajhiDeepankar) October 30, 2021
Prior to this, fans celebrated outside the actor’s residence ‘Mannat’ after news of Aryan Khan being granted bail came in on October 28. ‘Welcome home Prince Aryan’ posters were seen outside ‘Mannat’. The banner had attracted severe mockery from people on social media. Users didn’t seem to be too pleased with the celebrations that ensued over the bail, and moreover, with the banner.
Liberals go berserk after Aryan Khan’s arrest
Similar delirium was also witnessed amongst the ‘liberals’ after Aryan Khan was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on October 3, 2021. No sooner did the NCB arrest Khan’s son, the left-leaning liberal rushed to his defence, declaring him to be the victim of Centre’s alleged bias against Muslims. Completely ignoring the fact that other Hindus (Munmun Dhamecha) were also arrested, countless opinion pieces were penned hypothesising that Khan was arrested because his father, SRK, had made some obscure remarks over rising intolerance 5-6 years ago.
The usual gang of leftists- the self-proclaimed journalist Swati Chaturvedi, Arfa Khanum Sherwani, who works for the far-left propaganda website The Wire, controversial journalist Rana Ayyub, to name a few, fell over themselves to assert that Aryan Khan’s arrest was a vindictive move by the central government, a warning to Muslims around the country to fall in line or endure the consequences.
Ayan Khan arrested in drug case
Aryan Khan, Arbaz and Dhamecha were arrested by NCB on October 3, following a raid on the cruise ship Cordelia in Mumbai by the bureau on October 2. The NCB had found many incriminating pieces of evidence and some that indicated his international links of drugs procurement. Additional Solicitor General of India, Anil C. Singh, has told the Special Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) court in Mumbai that the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has sought the help of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to probe the alleged international connection of Aryan Khan with foreign drug peddlers.
