Emraan Hashmi breaks silence on Rhea Chakraborty's 'media trial': 'You almost destroyed a family's life'

Actor Emraan Hashmi has said that what happened with his Chehre co-star Rhea Chakraborty last year was 'completely uncalled for, and very unfair'. Rhea, who was dating Sushant Singh Rajput at the time of his death, was accused by his family of abetting his suicide and misappropriating his funds, which fuelled massive media scrutiny.

Rhea Chakraborty even spent almost a month in jail for her alleged role in a drugs-related case connected to Sushant's death. She has denied the charges, and has filed a countersuit against two of Sushant's sisters. Rhea was also not included in any promotional material for Chehre until recently.

In an interview with Bollywood Hungama, Emraan Hashmi said, "It was so blown out of proportion, this almost media trial that was conducted, was according to me, so lame. You almost destroyed a family's life, right? The entire family. For what? Some conjecture, and some assumptions about something that happened."

He added, "While we keep that aside and do what is called actual reporting, there are some portals that do that. But if everybody got down to understanding the ethics of that, and everyone followed those ground rules, I think this world would be a better place. Because as common sense prevails, you've got to understand, there is a judicial system. It's sole purpose is to do this. So why does a portion of the media come down with a guilty verdict on someone?"

Also read: Rhea Chakraborty was called ‘witch’ last year, now she's ‘most desirable woman’: Chehre director Rumy Jafry

Chehre, co-starring Amitabh Bachchan and Krystle D'Souza, is slated for an August 27 release in theatres. Director Rumy Jafry has often spoken in defence of Rhea. In a recent interview, he said that he's sure that the audience sentiment has swayed in her favour. “I don’t think the film will suffer because of Rhea’s personal life controversy," he told a leading daily. "I will admit that I felt it would have affected the film, had it released last year. Everyone knows what a furore the media caused with the whole Sushant Singh Rajput case and Rhea’s arrest. Last year, she was a ‘witch’, a ‘golddigger’ and whatnot; this year she was declared as the 'most desirable woman'. This shows there has been a change in the perception of people. So, I really don’t feel the film will have an adverse effect because of what happened with Rhea last year.”