Mumbai, June 22 (IANS) Tollywood heartthrob Vijay Deverakonda has landed in a legal soup after a complaint was filed against him under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act by the Raidurgam police.

VD allegedly made derogatory remarks against the tribal communities during a pre-release event of Suriya starrer “Retro” last month.

Talking about the unfortunate Pahalgham attack, Vijay was heard saying during the event, “The solution to what is happening in Kashmir is also to educate them (terrorists) and ensure they don’t get brainwashed. What will they achieve? Kashmir belongs to India, and Kashmiris are ours. India doesn’t even need to attack Pakistan because Pakistanis themselves are fed up with their government and will attack them if this continues. Asalu 500 years back tribals kokkutunnatu, veelu buddi lekunda, minimum common sense lekunda chese panulu.” (They behave like tribals did 500 years ago, fighting without common sense).

These remarks were considered to be derogatory towards tribals by the tribal organizations.

A section of the FIR read, “Film Actor Shri Vijay Deverakonda, who participated in the pre-release event of the movie ‘Retro’ starring Hero Surya, made comments that hurt the sentiments of the tribals and seriously insulted them. He insulted their tribal community by saying that they had beaten them 500 years ago without any intelligence and without minimum common sense. Moreover, he made comments comparing them to Pakistani terrorists. These comments, perceived as racially offensive, were broadcast across multiple media platforms. The statement went viral through the Sithara Entertainment YouTube Channel, which has 8.63 lakh subscribers and over 99,000 video views for the specific video [YouTube link: “https/www.youtube.com/live/fLAhOd2Sm687 si-8q-bRrdnr995bkjF”

It further said “The remarks were viewed as a serious insult to the self-respect and dignity of the tribal community. Therefore, the complainant requested to take necessary action against Shri Vijay Devarakonda as per law.”

Vijay is yet to react to the complaint.

–IANS

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