Actor Imran Khan has sought the cancellation of the notice and a stay on its operation while his petition is pending. He has also asked the court to restrain the authorities from taking coercive action against him
The Bombay High Court will hear on October 26 a petition filed by actor and US citizen Imran Khan challenging a police notice directing him to leave India by October 28 for attending the anti-CEC protest.
Khan has sought the cancellation of the notice and a pause on its operation while his petition is pending. He has also asked the court to restrain the authorities from taking coercive action against him, news agency Press Trust of India reported..
Senior counsel Venkatesh Dhond, appearing for Khan, mentioned the petition before a bench of Chief Justice Mahesh Chandra Tripathi and Justice Advait Sethna on Monday and sought an urgent hearing.
Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, representing the Union government, sought time as he had received a copy of the petition only on Monday morning. The court then scheduled the hearing for October 26.
Dhond sought an earlier hearing, pointing out that Khan had been asked to leave India by October 28. The court asked whether the actor had any other criminal cases pending against him, and Dhond replied that he did not.
“He has no criminal antecedents and no case filed or pending against him. He has been living in India since he was two years old. He did not even attend any protest. He had reached halfway when he was detained by the police and then let go,” Dhond said, according to PTI.
The court said an October 26 hearing would be appropriate and directed Khan to add the Maharashtra government as a respondent to the petition.
The 43-year-old actor was briefly detained during a demonstration linked to protests seeking the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. In his petition, Khan claimed that he had not participated in any gathering and had no association with the protest organisers.
Khan moved the High Court on October 17. His lawyer, Zulfiquar Memon, said the actor had also received a show-cause notice from the Foreigners Regional Registration Office, seeking an explanation on why his Overseas Citizen of India status should not be revoked.
In the petition filed through advocate Memon and MZM Legal, Khan described the Mumbai police notice as “illegal, arbitrary, perverse and drastic.” It alleged that the notice “reflects patent non-application of mind and the arbitrary targeting” of Khan as a public figure.
“Not only is the notice manifestly disproportionate, if implemented, it would reduce the very principles of natural justice that the authorities are duty-bound to uphold, to nothing but a dead letter,” the petition said.
Khan was briefly detained during the October 10 protest at Mumbai’s August Kranti Maidan. The demonstration was organised in solidarity with protests by the Cockroach Janta Party in Delhi, which sought Kumar’s resignation over the SIR issue.
The actor claimed that he had no association, affiliation or connection with any organisation or institution involved in organising the protest against the Chief Election Commissioner.
