Actress Kasthuri Shankar.
Credit: X/@KasthuriShankar
Chennai: Actor Kasthuri Shankar was on Saturday arrested from her flat in Narsingi, Hyderabad in connection with the case against her over her derogatory remarks directed at Telugu-speaking people in Tamil Nadu.
Sources told DH that Kasthuri was arrested from Hyderabad by a special team of Tamil Nadu police.
The Cyberabad police assisted the Egmore police, who were in Hyderabad searching for Kasthuri with a transit warrant. Kasthuri has been acting in a couple of Telugu serials and frequently visits Hyderabad.
The arrest comes two days after the Madras High Court rejected her anticipatory bail after concluding that statements of the actor “hovers around hate speech.”
At a meeting on November 3, Kasthuri had made derogatory comments on Telugu-speaking people settled in Tamil Nadu while trying to take a dig at DMK ministers with Telugu lineage.
Kasthuri, who was booked by the Madurai Police under various sections of the BNS that deals with intent to cause riot, approached the High Court seeking bail in case she gets arrested by the police.
Dwelling into the case, Justice N Anand Venkatesh said though the complaint states that the speech was directed against the womenfolk of the Telugu community, on carefully listening to the speech, it is seen that the entire Telugu speaking people have been demeaned.
“In a diverse country like ours, there must be zero tolerance whenever such speech is made by demeaning or insulting a particular group of people based on their language,” he said, adding that the “apology” issued by Kasthuri only attempted to justify her speech.