PTI
Mumbai, Nov 17: Three bodyguards of Hollywood star Angelina Jolie were arrested on Friday on charges of arousing religious passions and causing hurt to parents who were trying to enter their children's school where the actor was shooting for a film.
The trio were produced before a local court, which granted them bail in the sum of Rs 25,000 each. They have been asked to report to Azad Maidan police station every day till November 23.
Thomas Edward Mcadams, Robbert Patrick Donne and Machael John Bretti were charged under IPC sections 323 (causing hurt), section 298 (uttering words to wound religious feelings, section 504 (intentional insult to provoke breach of peace) and section 506 (criminal intimidation).
Seeking their police custody, the prosecution said they were carrying weapons at the time of the incident and the arms were yet to be recovered from them. Their bail was opposed on the ground that the charge of intimidation was non-bailable.
However, defence lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani argued that section 506 IPC was bailable and they should be freed. He also said they were not carrying weapons at the time of the incident.
Jethmalanai said the bodyguards of the actor had not showered verbal abuses on the people and the allegations in this regard were totally baseless and false. He said the bodyguards were protecting celebrities and hence they were just being over enthusiastic. Jethmalani said it was a simple case and much noise had been made about it.
Police arrested the trio after complaints were lodged against them in Azad Maidan police station on Thursday evening by a group of parents from Badruddin Tayyabji school run by Anjuman-e-Islam in South Mumbai.
The complainants alleged they were manhandled by the bodyguards who hurled racial remarks while they were trying to enter the school during the shooting of film A Mighty Heart.
Angelina's bodyguards had also manhandled a British photojournalist in Pune in October.
The Hollywood actress and her partner Brad Pitt are now in India in connection with the shoot of a film based on the life of slain Wall Street Journal correspondent Daniel Pearl.
In the news always: