Pre-Trial Incarceration

Pre-trial incarceration/detention is the process of keeping a person who has been arrested in custody before conviction. Pre-trail incarceration/detention refers to detaining of an accused person in a criminal case before the trial as taken place, either because of failure to post bail or detained under preventive detention statute. An under trial, or a pre-trial detainee denotes an un-convicted prisoner i.e. one who has been detained in prison during the period of investigation, inquiry or trial for the offence she/he is accused to have committed. Almost every third prisoner (32 %) around the world is awaiting trial or the conclusion of trial.

Aryan Khan's Drugs Case

Aryan Khan, the son of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, was arrested in connection with the Mumbai cruise drugs case early in October. Several court hearings, lots of drama and 26 long days in custody later, the Bombay High Court granted him bail on October 28. He finally walked out of jail on October 30, just in time for his father's birthday. Heres a comprehensive guide on everything that happened in between in the Aryan Khan-Mumbai cruise drugs case.

The Story in a Nutshell
Aryan Khan was arrested on October 3 in connection with a drugs raid conducted by the Narcotics Control Bureau. Helmed by zonal director Sameer Wankhede, the NCBs Mumbai unit raided a cruise ship off the city coast. Aryan Khan, along with several others, was arrested and accused of consumption and conspiracy, among other charges.

From October 3 onwards, Aryan Khan was doing the rounds of courts in Mumbai seeking bail. Like every good film script, this story too had a side-plot developing on the fringes with NCB's Sameer Wankhede coming under the scanner due to allegations of extortion in the case.

After several days of court arguments centred on the consumption and possession of drugs, the Bombay High Court granted Aryan Khan bail on October 28. He finally walked out of jail once the paperwork was complete two days later.

Who is Aryan Khan?
Aryan Khan, born on November 13,1997, is the eldest child of Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan and interior designer Gauri Khan.

Aryan Khan holds a Bachelors degree in Fine Arts, Cinematic Arts and Television Production from the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California in the United States. He did his schooling in the United Kingdom and Mumbai.

Aryan Khan has two siblings, sister Suhana and brother Abram.

Mumbai Cruise Drugs Case: How did it all begin?
On October 2, Aryan Khan left his home in Mumbai's Bandra to attend a party on board Cordelia Cruises' Empress ship. A two-day musical voyage had been organised by a Delhi-based events company.
On receiving a tip-off, a team of the Narcotics Control Bureaus Mumbai unit, led by zonal director Sameer Wankhede, boarded the ship disguised as passengers.

On board the ship, NCB officials began a search and the same night, it was reported that the NCB had seized various illegal drugs such as cocaine, charas, and MDMA from the ship and detained 7-8 people, including a Bollywood stars son.

When was Aryan Khan arrested?
Aryan Khan was formally placed under arrest at around 2 pm on October 3, a day after the raid. Two others -- Munmun Dhamecha and Aryans friend Arbaaz Merchant -- were also arrested.

According to the arrest memo, Aryan Khan was placed under arrest for "involvement in consumption, sale and purchase" of contraband.

By then, the NCB had claimed to have seized 13 grams of cocaine, 5 grams of MD, 21 grams of charas, 22 pills of MDMA (ecstasy) and Rs 1.33 lakh in cash during the raid on Cordelia Cruises' ship.

What are the charges against Aryan Khan?
Aryan Khan was charged under four sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. These charges include:

1. Section 8(c): This section prohibits the production, manufacturing, possession, selling, purchase, transport, warehouse, use, consumption, inter-state import and export, import to and from India, or transship of any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance, except for medical or scientific purposes.
    
2. Section 20(b): Under this section, possession, cultivation, manufacture, sale, transport, and use of cannabis are punishable offences.
   • If the accused is in possession of a small quantity, imprisonment involves a term which may extend to six months.
   • If the quantity is less than commercial but greater than small, the imprisonment may extend to ten years.
   • If the quantity involved is commercial, imprisonment shall not be less than ten years but may extend to twenty years.
      
3. Section 27: Under Section 27, the consumption of any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance is a punishable offence.
    
4. Section 35: This section presumes that the accused knew what they were doing. Hence, the accused will be treated guilty unless proven innocent.

What happened in Court?
In the Aryan Khan drugs case story, courts in Mumbai became the site for much of the drama.

Aryan Khans legal team, which included senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi, Satish Maneshinde and Amit Desai, argued for him to be released on bail. The NCB, represented by Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, opposed his bail plea.

October 4: During one of the first hearings in the Aryan Khan case, the NCB sought an extension of the star kids police custody till October 11. However, the court granted NCB custody of Aryan Khan and the others only till October 7.

October 7: The NCB again sought custody of Aryan till October 11. The court refused the demand and instead sent him to 14-day judicial custody. Aryan was shifted to Mumbais Arthur Road Jail the next day. He was being held at the NCB office until then.

October 8: Aryan Khan moved the court for both interim and regular bail. The magistrate court, which was hearing the matter, rejected the bail application on grounds of it being non-maintainable in that particular court.

October 11: A special NDPS court heard the bail plea and directed the NCB to file its reply by October 13.

October 13: The court adjourned the hearing for the next day after hearing arguments from both sides.

October 14: The special NDPS court judge reserved his order on Aryan Khans bail application. With courts shut for the weekend and other holidays, the next hearing was scheduled for October 20, meaning that Aryan would stay in jail at least until then.

October 20: In the afternoon, the special NDPS court rejected Aryan Khan's bail application. Aryan's lawyers said that they would go to the Bombay High Court in appeal against the rejection of bail by the lower court. Aryan Khan continues to remain in prison.

October 21: Aryan Khan's lawyer Satish Maneshinde, along with his team, went to the Bombay High Court. The court said it will hear Aryan Khan's appeal on Tuesday, October 26.

October 26: The Bombay High Court began hearing Aryan Khan's bail plea. The NCB opposed the plea while former Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, along with others, argued in favour of bail for Aryan Khan. The hearing will resume at 2.30 pm on Wednesday. Meanwhile, a special NDPS court granted bail to two accused in the case.

October 28: The Bombay High Court granted bail to Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha.

What were Aryan Khan's major arguments in favour of bail?

• No drugs were recovered from him
• Alleged WhatsApp chats are unconnected to the current case
• Even if true, allegations pertain to small quantity and consumption only
• No criminal antecedents
• No likelihood of fleeing

What were the NCB's major arguments against bail?

• Drugs recovered from Aryan's friend Arbaaz Merchant (allegedly six grams of charas) were for both of them
• WhatsApp chats suggest international drug trafficking
• Aryan Khan is involved in conspiracy so the amount of drugs recovered is immaterial
• He is a regular consumer of contraband
• Release of any accused will hamper the investigation

The Big Saturday Release

On October 30, Aryan Khan finally walked out of jail. He was greeted at his home in Mumbai's Bandra by scores of SRK fans who had collected to celebrate the big release

Although he was granted bail by the Bombay High Court on October 28, he only left jail two days later. This is because the court's operative order was released only on the morning of October 29. As per the bail order, Aryan Khan cannot leave the country without permission and must inform the investigating officer in the case before leaving Mumbai.

On October 29, Aryan Khan's expansive legal team tried to complete the paperwork by the jail's deadline of 5.30 pm for submitting bail papers. However, they missed the deadline and he was, hence, finally released the next morning.

Aryan Khan Arrest: How did everyone react?

• Amid the investigation and court proceedings, Shah Rukh's fans showed support for the actor and his family by trending #WeStandWithSRK on Twitter.
• After Aryan Khan's arrest on October 3, reactions poured in from Bollywood stars and politicians through the month of his detention.
• Actor Suniel Shetty asked the media to let Aryan Khan breathe and not jump to conclusions. "It is our responsibility to take care of the child," Shetty said.
• Film director Pooja Bhatt wrote on Twitter, "I stand in solidarity with you, SRK. Not that you need it. But I do. This too, shall pass."
• Actor Hrithik Roshan posted a heartfelt letter addressed to Aryan on Instagram. He wrote, "God is kind. He gives only the toughest ones the toughest balls to play."
• Among politicians, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said on Twitter that he was repelled by the ghoulish epicaricacy displayed by those witch-hunting Shah Rukh Khan.
• Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti claimed that Aryan Khan was being targeted by law enforcement agencies because of his Muslim surname.
• On being asked about the case, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said he would fight for those who are voiceless and weak, not for those whose fathers are powerful.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra minister and Nationalist Congress Party leader Nawab Malik alleged that the NCBs raid on the cruise was fake and the BJP was using central agencies to defame Maharashtra, the Maharashtra government and Bollywood. He questioned the presence during the raid of two people who allegedly have nothing to do with the NCB. One of them, he claimed, was associated with the BJP.

Twitter War in Aryan Khan's Drug case
A recent study led by researcher Lalitha Kameswari at IIIT-Hyderabad examined the Twitter activity around the arrest of Aryan Khan, son of actor Shah Rukh Khan, and found that overall, the volume battle was won by the pro-Aryan Khan camp.
Fans of the actor mobilised, an inordinately high number of journalists covered the case favourably for the young detainee, and a small number of public figures also spoke up in favour of the actor.

The case highlighted 'war room' strategies of two battling parties, where one is a loosely stitched group of fans owing allegiance to a star, and another is an amorphous but well-oiled infrastructure of accounts antagonistic to Bollywood, Muslims and social liberals. The latter, while not represented by a single entity such as a political party or media organisation, is more a collection of journalists and social media influencers who capitalise on an active Twitter ideological collective during outrage moments.

On the pro-Aryan side, we see a few forms of engagement. First, widespread retweeting of sympathetic stories on the news by journalists and commentators. Second, hashtag activism, driven by a small number of accounts pushing content, and coordinated through a small number of dedicated fan accounts. This has elements of textbook online activism, where a group decides through periodical coordination, such as daily emails or a shared doc, on the cause, its tenor, and the messages that are to be sent. This is then coordinated and done through the accounts coming alive throughout the day.

The hashtag activism on the anti-Aryan side follows the same structure, but with one important distinction. The seeding of the initial message does not come from an influencer account, but the subsequent retweeting comes from important accounts. This is a very useful tactic for offensive content, since there is plausible deniability – an offensive message can be seeded, it can be "liked" by a major influencer (in which case it does not appear explicitly on their feed), but this will make the message gain momentum among their followers. Similarly, a message can also be retweeted, which can be "un-retweeted" by the influencer after the damage is done.

The hashtag activism on the anti-Aryan side follows the same structure, but with one important distinction. The seeding of the initial message does not come from an influencer account, but the subsequent retweeting comes from important accounts. This is a very useful tactic for offensive content, since there is plausible deniability – an offensive message can be seeded, it can be "liked" by a major influencer (in which case it does not appear explicitly on their feed), but this will make the message gain momentum among their followers. Similarly, a message can also be retweeted, which can be "un-retweeted" by the influencer after the damage is done.

The Aryan Khan case had a somewhat unusual Twitter content pattern in that there were equally well-stacked armouries on both sides of a debate.

In these proxy wars, influencers play an important, but fleeting role.

What is happening on social media in India is not different from what is happening elsewhere in the world. People who deviate from any valued group narrative on an issue are mercilessly trolled in the Philippines, Ethiopia, the US and any number of countries. It may appear that Aryan Khan came out on top because the Twitter war went overwhelmingly in his favour, to a large extent because there were social media armies loyal to his father who came out in support. But did that get him out of jail sooner? Did it make more A-list celebrities come out in his support? If anything, there's now a cottage industry of people who will help celebrities protect their near and dear ones online and offline, legally, physically and emotionally.