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The Bombay High Court on Tuesday suspended to June 25 the hearing on a petition filed by actor Kangana Ranaut who asserted that the Passport Authority had declined to renew her passport citing an FIR reported against her by the Mumbai Police.
A bench of Justices PB Varale and SP Tavade adjourned the hearing after pointing out that Ms Ranaut had failed to implead the Passport Authority as a party in the case.
The bench also said that Ms Ranaut’s application was “vague” and did not place all relevant facts on record.
In her interim application filed through advocate Rizwan Siddiquee, Ms Ranaut said the Passport Authority had refused to renew her passport on account of an FIR registered against her and her sister Rangoli Chandel by the Bandra police earlier this year over some comments they had allegedly made on Twitter in October last year, which the FIR claimed promoted enmity between communities.
The high court also noted that while Ms Ranaut in her application had sought relief only for herself, her sister’s name was also mentioned as an applicant.
The bench accordingly granted advocate Siddiquee the liberty to amend the application and to implead the Passport Authority as a party by the end of the day.
The bench also dismissed Mr Siddiquee’s request for an earlier date of hearing.
Mr Siddiquee said Ms Ranaut needed to travel out of India for the shooting of her film whose schedule had been fixed for later this week.
The high court, however, said June 25 was the earliest date it could assign for the hearing.
“It is just a film. The schedule can be changed. First of all, the application is vague. If she (Kangana Ranaut) was so vigilant, she could have approached the court with all details in advance. It is just a matter of one week, a film production takes over a year. June 25 is the earliest date we can give,” the judges said.
In her application filed on Monday, Ms Ranaut had said she needed to travel to Budapest this month for the shooting of her upcoming film ‘Dhakkad’ and thus, needed her passport renewed.