Bombay HC to hear Imran Khan’s challenge to leave-India notice on 26 October

• The Bombay High Court will hear Imran Khan’s challenge to a police notice ordering him to leave India on October 26, two days before his departure deadline.

• The actor’s counsel said he had not attended the protest, had no criminal cases against him and had lived in India since childhood.

• Khan has also received a separate FRRO notice asking why his Overseas Citizen of India status should not be revoked, according to his lawyer.

The Bombay High Court will hear actor Imran Khan’s petition challenging a police directive to leave India on 26 October, two days before the deadline set for his departure.

Khan, a US citizen, has sought cancellation of the notice, which followed his brief detention in connection with a demonstration in Mumbai demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation.

Senior counsel Venkatesh Dhond mentioned the petition on Monday before a bench comprising Chief Justice Mahesh Chandra Tripathi and Justice Advait Sethna, requesting an urgent hearing.

Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh, representing the Union government, sought time to respond, saying he had received the petition only that morning.

After the bench fixed 26 October for the hearing, Dhond requested an earlier date, pointing out that Khan had been directed to leave by 28 October. The court retained the hearing date and instructed the actor to include the Maharashtra government as a respondent.

Asked whether Khan faced any other criminal proceedings, Dhond said no case had been filed or was pending against him. He also submitted that the actor had lived in India since the age of two.

According to Dhond, Khan had not reached the protest venue when police detained him and subsequently released him.

The demonstration at August Kranti Maidan on 10 October was organised in solidarity with Cockroach Janta Party protests in Delhi seeking Kumar’s resignation over the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.

In his petition, Khan denied participating in any gathering or having links with the organisations behind the demonstration.

The actor approached the High Court on 17 October. His lawyer, Zulfiquar Memon, said Khan had also received a show-cause notice from the Foreigners Regional Registration Office asking him to explain why his Overseas Citizen of India status should not be revoked.

Filed through Memon and MZM Legal, the petition challenges the police directive as arbitrary, unlawful and disproportionate. It contends that the authorities failed to apply their minds and unfairly singled Khan out because of his public profile.

Besides seeking to have the notice quashed, Khan has requested an interim stay and protection against coercive action while the petition is pending.

According to police, the departure directive invokes Sections 7(2)(c) and 29 of the Immigration and Foreigners Act, concerning restrictions on foreign nationals’ presence in India and their removal.

The notice directs Khan to leave on or before 28 October, warning that failure to comply could lead to deportation proceedings.

Khan, the nephew of actor Aamir Khan, has appeared in several Hindi films.

With PTI inputs