Mumbai, Oct 17 (PTI) Bollywood actor Imran Khan, a US citizen, on Saturday moved the Bombay High Court challenging a notice issued by Mumbai Police directing him to leave India by October 28 for attending a political protest, even as he received a show-cause notice from the FRRO as to why his Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) status should not be cancelled.
The 43-year-old actor, who had been briefly detained during a demonstration here related to the protests seeking Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation, claimed in his High Court petition that he had not participated in any gathering and had no association with the organisers of the protests.
While he moved the HC, Khan also received a show-cause notice from the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO), seeking a clarification as to why his OCI status should not be revoked, said his lawyer Zulfiquar Memon.
This notice should have been issued before Mumbai Police issued their “abrupt and arbitrary” ‘Leave India Notice’ (LIN), the lawyer said.
In his petition, the actor said the notice issued by the Mumbai police was “illegal, arbitrary, perverse and drastic”.
The petition, filed through advocate Memon and MZM Legal, said the police notice “reflects patent non-application of mind and the arbitrary targeting” of Khan as a public figure.
Khan sought quashing of the notice, and also requested the court to grant a stay to its operation during the pendency of his petition and restrain the authorities from taking any coercive steps against him.
“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.
The actor claimed that he had no association, affiliation or connection whatsoever with any organization or institution involved in organizing the protest against the Chief Election Commissioner.
At the same time, the petition claimed that no law or rules prohibit an OCI cardholder from participating in a peaceful protest.
The plea is expected to be mentioned for an urgent hearing before a division bench of Chief Justice Mahesh Chandra Tripathi and Justice Advait Sethna.
“The (police) notice has been issued without disclosing any reasons, supporting material….It was issued without inquiry, a show-cause notice, or any opportunity for the Petitioner to respond to the alleged violations,” the plea said.
As per the petition, Khan had not participated in any gathering, had not entered any restricted or barricaded area and had not disobeyed the police order to leave the place.
Khan was apprehended only after the media surrounded him while he was returning to his vehicle parked nearby, it added.
“The Petitioner has not breached either any provision of the Immigration and Foreigners Act or the Citizenship Act, which governs his rights and duties as an OCI and neither does the notice cite any specific breach,” the petition said.
Khan has resided peacefully in India since he was two years old, has deep-rooted familial, marital, educational and professional ties to the country, and has no criminal antecedents, it added.
The petition claimed that he learnt through media reports that an FIR had been registered against him.
The extraordinary haste with which the Leave India Notice has been issued, within five days of the complaint, strongly indicated that it was issued not upon an independent, objective and lawful assessment, but as a “purely responsive measure and/or reaction and/or for extraneous reasons”, it claimed.
Khan was briefly detained during the protest at Mumbai’s historic August Kranti Maidan on October 10, organised in solidarity with the protests by the Cockroach Janta Party in Delhi demanding the resignation of CEC Kumar over the SIR issue.
According to police, Khan was served the departure order after authorities invoked provisions under Section 7 (2)(C) and Section 29 of The Immigration and Foreigners Act, which grant powers to the Government to restrict the movement of foreign nationals and enforce their mandatory removal.
Under Section 7 (2)(C), the government holds authority to issue directions prohibiting, regulating or restricting the presence of any foreigner, specifically empowering officials to order that an individual “shall not remain in India or in any specified area therein.”
Section 29 permits the government to direct the removal of a foreign national for contravening any provisions, rules, or orders of the Act, or pursuant to an adverse security report.
Khan, nephew of Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan who has starred in several Hindi films, was directed to leave the country on or before October 28, failing which deportation procedures under Section 29 may be initiated. PTI SP NSK KRK
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