Kangana Ranaut’s plea seeking passport renewal: Bombay HC says her application is “vague”

By LE Desk

Mumbai, June 16, 2021: During the hearing of a plea filed by actor Kangana Ranaut seeking renewal of her passport, the Bombay High Court came down heavily on her lawyer.

“She should have been more vigilant. If there was urgency, she would have approached you with all the details. Your application is vague,” the High Court told Ranaut’s counsel during the hearing yesterday.

Kangana had approached the high court stating that her application to renew her passport was rejected by the passport office as there was a case of sedition registered against her in Bandra. She and her sister Rangoli had already approached the high court seeking quashing of that FIR. While the court ordered police to not take any coercive action against them, the FIR against them remains.

Advocate Rizwan Merchant, appearing for the original complainant Munnawarali Sayyed, pointed out that there was no impugned order attached in the petition filed by the actress. He opposed the plea filed by her saying “writ jurisdiction cannot be invoked”, India Today reported.

Advocate Rizwan Siddiquee, appearing for Kangana, told the court that the rejection was verbal and there is no order per se. “As the passport was expiring, we filed an application. While the application was filed, we were verbally told that because an FIR is registered so the passport will not be renewed,” Siddiquee said.

The court asked Siddiquee to present the order as what he was saying was only oral. “That is what you are saying. But where is the order?”

The Bombay High Court also pointed out that the plea filed by Ranaut had her sister’s name as well. It asked, “The applicant is in the performance industry. What about the other? What is her problem?”

Siddiquee explained to the court that the application regarding the passport was only with regards to Kangana and not her sister Rangoli. However, he promised to make an amendment to the petition, reported India Today.

The court further asked “Which is the competent authority that you have a grievance against? When you have not made the passport authority a party in the petition, then how can we issue a notice to them?”

Siddiquee pointed out that the passport authority had only told them verbally to get a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the court. “They say that if you take a NOC from the High Court it can be done,” said Siddiquee.

“It is not a case in a police station. You are challenging the passport authority. You need to make them a party,” said the court while adjourning the next date of hearing to June 25.

Ranaut’s lawyer requested that the issue needed an urgent hearing. He said that production dates for the film that she was working on have already been declared and that all other actors were already at the location. The court, however, said June 25 was the earliest date that they could give.