The Telangana Police have registered a case against popular Telugu actor Vijay Devarakonda under Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of atrocities) Act for comparing tribals with Pakistani terrorists during the pre-release of the film, Retro.
The case was registered on a complaint lodged by tribal leader Nanavath Ashok Kumar Naik at the Raidurgam police station under Cyberabad police station. According to the FIR, Vijay Devarakonda hurt the sentiments and insulted the tribals by saying they were without any intelligence or common sense and were beaten 500 years ago.
“Moreover he made comments comparing them to Pakistani terrorists. These comments perceived as racially offensive were broadcast across multiple media platforms,” stated the FIR.
Devarakonda was present at the pre-release event of the film Retro starring actor Surya. According to the complainant, his comments which deeply hurt the sentiments of the tribal population were shown by quite a few YouTube channels. The police began investigations into the matter after the filing of the complaint on 17 June.
The actor, who had made the comments in April, apologised for it on his ‘X’ handle in May. He stated, “The word ‘tribe’ as I used it was meant in the historical and dictionary sense – referring to a time centuries ago when human society was globally organized into tribes and clans, often in conflict. It was never a reference to the Scheduled Tribes classification which was introduced during colonial and post colonial India and formalized only in the mid 20th century – not even 100 years ago.”