Vadodara: Police in Ankleshwar town of Gujarat arrested two persons on Saturday for allegedly thrashing a man for saying that despite being a Rajput, he planned to watch the Bollywood film Padmaavat.
According to complainant Upendrasingh Jadhav, a resident of Vadodara, the incident took place on January 24 when he was visiting Ankleshwar.
Sitting in a hotel, he was speaking on phone with a friend in Vadodara, asking him about the situation ahead of Padmaavat’s release. He told his friend that as the film won’t be released in Gujarat, he planned to travel to Mumbai to watch it.
The accused, identified as Bhargavgsinh Padhiyar and Ranjit Fuvad, overheard him, and assaulted him saying how could he dare to watch the film, despite being a Rajput and despite the Karni Sena’s appeal for the film’s boycott, Jadhav told police.
The accused also shot a video of the assault and forced Jadhav to write an apology. After the video went viral on social media, Jadhav, feeling all the more humiliated, decided to approach police, he said in the complaint.
“We have arrested Padhiyar and Fuvad under IPC sections 323 (assault) and 342 (wrongful confinement). They will be produced in a court later,” said an officer from GIDC Ankleshwar police station.
The Sanjay Leela Bhansali-directed period drama Padmaavat, facing stiff opposition from some Rajput groups for alleged distortion of history, released nationwide on January 25. However, theatre owners in Gujarat have decided not to screen it as of now, fearing violence.