The Bombay High Court disposed of Kangana Ranaut’s application seeking directions to the Regional Passport Authority, Mumbai for passport renewal after the latter assured that the actor’s application will be considered as speedily and efficiently as possible, Live Law reported.
The Additional Solicitor General, appearing for the Regional Passport Authority, claimed that Ranaut’s passport renewal application incorrectly stated that “criminal cases” were pending against the actor when only FIRs (First Information Reports) have been registered against her.
The ASG added that if the actor made a statement that no criminal case is pending against her, and made the appropriate corrections to her passport renewal application, the Regional Passport Authority would consider the application in accordance with the rules.
Following this, the actor’s counsel submitted that “no criminal cases are pending against the petitioner in any Court arising out of two FIRs impugned in the application,” and the ASG subsequently assured that her application will be decided expeditiously.
Objection by Passport Authority
On June 15, Ranaut had moved the Bombay High Court seeking directions for the renewal of her passport after the Passport Authority of India allegedly raised objections to issue the renewal due to the FIRs registered against her by the Bandra police for hateful tweets and sedition.
Ranaut claimed in her plea that she had applied for renewal of her passport, which would be expiring in September 2021, as she had travel to Budapest from June 15 to August 30 for her upcoming film Dhakkad, but the Regional Passport Authority raised objections based on the FIRs registered against her.
However, the actor failed to submit any written evidence of the objection.
The FIRs in question
Among the numerous complaints filed against Ranaut in 2020 for her tweets and comments on issues such as nepotism in the Hindi film industry and the ongoing farmers’ protest in the country, one was filed by a fitness instructor and casting director Munnawarali Sayyed with the Bandra Police in Mumbai.
Sayyed filed the complaint, in October, against Ranaut and her sister Rangoli Chandel for allegedly trying to incite communal violence between Hindus and Muslims through their tweets and interviews.
The other FIR in question was filed by the Mumbai Police in March 2021 against the actor and others, following author Ashish Kaul’s accusation of copyright infringement regarding the Hindi film Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi’s sequel calling it a “white collar crime”.
