Human rights lawyer and trade unionist Sudha Bharadwaj recently spoke about actress Rhea Chakraborty who was arrested in 2020 and spent 28 days in judicial custody in Byculla jail in Mumbai. Sudha, who was arrested in the Bhima Koregaon case, was released from prison after three years in December last year. She said that Rhea had no airs about her status, mingled with inmates and even performed for them before leaving the jail.

Sudha told Newslaundry in a new interview. “I must say for somebody, who had been thrown into a situation like that… for her as a young person, she took it very sportingly and she was so friendly with people. She was so friendly with the children. The first day (they met her), everybody was going ‘Rhea kahan hai (where is Rhea)?’ You know, how people are. But she would never make a thing of it. And when she left, she had some money remaining in her account, so she asked for sweets to be given for all those in the barracks and everybody came down to wish her goodbye. Then, everybody said, ‘Rhea, one dance, one dance’. And she actually obliged. So sweet. She danced with them (the inmates).”