Shivani Thakur
Published on: April 28, 2022 at 20:34 IST
The Gujarat High Court Quashed a Criminal Case filed against Shah Rukh Khan for allegedly causing a stampede at the Vadodara Railway Station while promoting his film Raees in 2017.
“In the considered opinion of this Court none of the said act could be termed as having any element of Mens Rea, which is an essential element to hold negligence as being an offence,” Justice Nikhil S Kariel said.
In this Case, Khan was promoting his film by travelling by train from Mumbai to Delhi. When the train stopped at the Vadodara Railway Station, a huge crowd had gathered.
Khan threw ‘smiley balls’ and ‘t- shirts’ in the crowd and people were trying to catch those. In all this, a stampede ensued due to which some persons were injured, some became unconscious and one person died.
A complaint was registered for the Offences of causing Death by Negligence, Mischief, and Act Endangering Life or Personal Safety of others as well as Sections 145 and 147 of the Railways Act.
Khan moved to the High Court, it was argued on behalf of Khan that there were multiple causes for the incident and none of his acts could be termed as the ‘proximate cause’ for the chaos at the station.
High Court noted that according to the Investigation Report that showed that as per the doctor’s opinion, the death that took place was on account of a cardiac arrest.
It was concluded that Khan was able to make out a Case for quashing of the Complaint and Summons.