On October 2, Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, was arrested throughout a medication raid by police on a cruise ship rave get together off the coast of Mumbai.

Although no medication had been recovered from 23-year-previous Khan, he has been held in Mumbai Central Prison since October eight, having been repeatedly denied bail till a Mumbai court docket on Thursday accepted his enchantment.

Khan, together with two others accused, are to be launched by tomorrow night, the court docket stated. Thursday’s ruling comes after two decrease courts had rejected the bail functions.

The excessive-profile case is being talked about throughout India, with the superstar scion’s supporters saying he’s being unfairly targeted by authorities attributable to his father’s fame.

Investigators with India’s Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) allege that Khan is a component of a bigger conspiracy to obtain medication from a world community.

Khan is being held at Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail

Khan’s legal professionals have raised questions over the legality of the decrease courts repeatedly denying bail on drug expenses, since no medication had been discovered, and the first proof was primarily based on WhatsApp chats.

Pattern of Bollywood drug arrests

Over the previous few years, Bollywood stars have usually discovered themselves caught up in instances associated to medication.

In a case just like Khan’s, actress Rhea Chakraborty was arrested in September 2020 for allegedly shopping for medication for her boyfriend, actor Sushant Singh Rajput.

In each instances, the accused individuals with movie-trade connections had been repeatedly denied bail. And in each instances, investigators relied closely on WhatsApp chats from the telephones of the arrested individuals to make their case and claimed that the accused had been a part of a broader conspiracy to distribute medication.

“No celebrity is bigger than the law. But the law still needs to be followed scrupulously regardless of the status of the accused,” Rebecca John, a senior advocate at India’s Supreme Court, informed DW.

“In this case, if Aryan Khan was not Shah Rukh Khan’s son, he may well have been out on bail long ago,” John added.

“In that sense the law has been abused to incarcerate a young man in express violation of constitutional protections,” stated John, who’s amongst India’s most esteemed legal professionals, well-known for having taken up many excessive-profile instances.

Vikas Pahwa, additionally a senior lawyer, recommended that Aryan Khan was paying a worth for his superstar standing.

“When there is no recovery [of drugs], there is no evidence of consumption. There is a blatant misuse of procedures,” Pahwa informed DW.

Some say that a pattern is rising in India through which authorities deny bail in excessive-profile instances.

“What seems to be gaining more and more acceptance on a jurisprudential level is that denial of bail is viewed somehow as being a sign of judicial uprightness,” Fuzail Ahmad Ayyubi, a lawyer at the Indian Supreme Court, informed DW.

“Whether legal procedures have been followed or not is perhaps not the question here, rather it is the use of discretion envisaged in bail matters that is at the root of the problem,” Ayyubi added.

Are Indian authorities focusing on the Khans?

Shah Rukh Khan is one in every of India’s most well-known celebrities and has been referred to as the “king of Bollywood.” Khan can also be a member of India’s Muslim neighborhood, which has led some to consider there’s a political motive behind his son’s arrest.

Bollywood Film Happy New Year

Bollywood’s ‘King’ Khan

King of Bollywood

His profession could possibly be straight from a Bollywood script. Born in New Delhi, Shah Rukh Khan rose from humble beginnings to stardom in Mumbai. The 50-year-previous is one in every of India’s most profitable actors, additionally wanted as a producer and presenter. With an output of greater than 2,000 movies per 12 months, India’s movie trade is without doubt one of the world’s largest.

Indischer Bollywood-Star Shah Rukh Khan NEU

Bollywood’s ‘King’ Khan

Villain to lover

At the beginning of his film profession, Shah Rukh Khan was usually solid because the villain. It wasn’t till he began taking part in the romantic hero in 1990s industrial Hindi movies that he skyrocketed to fame. The 1995 blockbuster romance “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge – The big-hearted will take away the bride” holds the world document because the longest-working movie in a cinema.

Bollywood Schauspieler Shah Rukh Khan und Kajol Devgan

Bollywood’s ‘King’ Khan

Bollywood’s energy couple

Kajol Devgn has been the girl by his aspect for the previous 22 years. On display, the 2 are the most well-liked and profitable Indian film couple of all time. In actual life, nonetheless, they’re fortunately married to different companions.

Bollywood Schauspieler Shah Rukh Khan mit Frau Gauri

Bollywood’s ‘King’ Khan

A mannequin husband

The Bollywood star has been married to movie producer Gauri Khan for 25 years, totally scandal-free. The couple, who’ve three kids and a joint manufacturing firm, met earlier than Shah Rukh Khan rose to fame as an actor. In India, media-shy Gauri Khan is thought to be a style icon.

Bollywood Film My Name Is Khan

Bollywood’s ‘King’ Khan

Bollywood meets Hollywood

“My Name is Khan,” produced by the Khans in 2010, is essentially the most profitable Bollywood movie overseas. Set within the US, it focuses on Islamophobia within the wake of the 9/11 assaults. Shah Rukh Khan performs a Muslim who suffers from the Asperger syndrome and is suspected of being a terrorist. His message was: “My name is Khan and I am not a terrorist.”

Bollywood Film Happy New Year

Bollywood’s ‘King’ Khan

Bollywood exports

The 2014 musical comedy drama “Happy New Year” was the best-grossing Bollywood movie on the day of its launch in Indian historical past. That identical 12 months, the movie confirmed in Germany, too – right here, followers can now join for Bollywood dancing and Indian cooking lessons and purchase shiny Bollywood-style outfits.

Bollywood Schauspieler Akshay Kumar und Shah Rukh Khan

Bollywood’s ‘King’ Khan

A rich man

Shah Rukh Khan and his performing colleague Akshay Kumar have made it to the Forbes checklist of the world’s richest individuals. With an revenue of $33 million per 12 months, “King Khan” makes greater than Kumar, however a lot lower than Hollywood’s finest-paid actress: 25-year-previous Jennifer Lawrence is reported to have earned $46 million final 12 months.

Screenshot Twitter Account Shah Rukh Khan

Bollywood’s ‘King’ Khan

In contact with the world

The actor has about 20 million followers every on Twitter and Facebook. This is the place he shares his personal pursuits, together with his current obsession with Pokemon Go, and a video clip the place he finds Pikachu, a well-liked Pokemon – Bollywood-style!

Author: Julia Hitz / db


The goal will not be Aryan Khan, it’s Shah Rukh, who has held sway within the nation as the most important superstar the nation has ever seen,” Saira Shah Halim, a rights activist and educator, informed DW.

“There is a motive to tarnish Shah Rukh’s brand, and then dismantle the other Khans by making it appear as if they have fallen from grace,” she added.

Halim stated she believes the case of Aryan Khan is a component of a bigger ploy to reap political dividends by making a well-known Muslim household look unhealthy.

And Halim will not be alone in her opinion.

In a current article within the Indian Express titled “Crushing the Stars,” tutorial Pratap Bhanu Mehta argued that there’s an ideological battle on a constructed “Muslimness.”

This consists of making Muslim religiosity invisible in public areas, together with by curbing cultural expression, from meals to Muslim celebrities.

According to Mehta, the purpose of authorities ostensibly taming Bollywood extra is to not present that movie stars are equal earlier than the regulation, however is relatively to reveal who has actual energy and the flexibility to manage the cultural order.

“Admittedly, the accused is Shah Rukh Khan’s son, not the star himself, but in the whole process, the target could not be clearer,” Mehta stated.

Bollywood largely quiet on Khan’s case

Surprisingly, not many Bollywood celebrities have come out brazenly in help of Shah Rukh Khan, with solely a handful taking to social media. 

Film director Sanjay Gupta praised Khan on Twitter.

“He has always stood up for every cause for the film industry. And the astute silence of the same film industry in his moment of crisis is nothing short of shameful.” 

Gupta later welcomed the excessive court docket’s determination to grant bail. 

Filmmaker Rahul Dholakia referred to as Khan’s arrest “outrageous” on Twitter.

“You are saying there is a ‘possible’ connection to his ‘international’ racket based on ‘WhatsApp’ chat recovered from his phone, that you confiscated on a ‘bust’ where he ‘had nothing’? And you have been fishing for days and yet not found anything?”