Court discharges Sunny Deol, Karisma Kapoor in 22-year-old case

Yash Goyal
Our Correspondent 
Jaipur, October 11

A local court discharged Bollywood actor-turned-politician Sunny Deol and actress Karisma Kapoor in a 22-year-old case in which the two of them had pulled the emergency chain of a train to force it to stop.

The incident pertains to 1997, when the two actors were shooting in the state for their film ‘Bajrang’. They, as well as two others—stuntman Tinu Verma and another actor, Satish Shah—had pulled a train's chain to make it stop at Narena station in Ajmer Division’s Phulera. Their action delayed the train by 25 minutes.

The act of pulling the chain activates a train’s emergency brakes.

The judge who discharged Deol and Kapoor however said on Friday that cases would continue against Verrma and Shah because they did not file a review.

The court is hearing a review petition that comes after the trial court in the case framed charges last month despite the sessions court having set them aside in 2010. The Railway Magistrate framed charges under Section 141 (needlessly interfering with the means of communication in a train), Section 145 (drunkenness or nuisance), Section 146 (obstructing a railway servant in his duties), and Section 147 (trespass and refusal to desist from trespass) of the Railways Act on September 17.

On September 20, the sessions judge observed that the Railway Court had gone ahead with the charges, even summoning some witnesses for a bailable warrant on September 24, despite the court's order.      

Then assistant station master of Narena station, Sitaram Malakar, had filed a written complaint.