Actor Kasthuri, Who Was Jailed For Comments Against Telugu Community, Released

Actress Kasthuri was released from the Puzhal Central Prison here on Thursday, a day after she was granted conditional bail by a court in a case of alleged derogatory comment against Telugu speaking people.

On her release from the prison, Kasthuri thanked all those who made her a 'raging storm,' an indirect reference to some of the people who opposed her, that eventually led to her imprisonment following a police case based on a complaint. She said hers had been a 'small voice,' but she had now been transformed into a 'raging storm.' 

Kasthuri thanked the people of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, her friends, legal team and all those who had voiced their support for her including some political leaders. She said she was treated well at the Puzhal prison. According to the bail conditions, she should appear at the Egmore police station every day.

She had been arrested from Hyderabad on November 16 by a Chennai police team after the Madras High Court Madurai bench rejected her anticipatory bail petition. Several sections of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita had been invoked against her, including a provision related to promoting enmity between different groups of people.

Kasthuri, while speaking in support of Brahmins at a protest here on November 3, had alleged that some Telugu speaking people, who had come to the state centuries ago to serve the then rulers, though now claimed to be Tamils, do not accept Tamil Brahmins as Tamils.

The actress, following the controversy, asserted that she only referred to those who bat for the "Dravidian ideology, who say that Tamils (Tamil Brahmins) are not Tamils." According to the actress, such people chose the identity of 'Dravidian' and could not choose 'Tamil,' for their ideology. Also, she repeatedly claimed that she did not make any derogatory comment against the Telugu speaking people. 

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