IN AN interim relief to Imran Khan, the Bombay High Court on Tuesday kept a Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) notice in abeyance till November 2, directing the Bollywood actor, a US citizen, to leave India by October 28. A bench comprising Chief Justice Mahesh Chandra Tripathi and Justice Advait Sethna adjourned the matter after Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh assured the court that the Government would not take coercive action against the 43-year-old actor until the next hearing date. The court was scheduled to hear Khan’s petition challenging the FRRO order on Tuesday. However, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the FRRO, sought time. When Khan’s counsel Venkatesh Dhond cited the October 28 deadline and urged that no coercive steps be initiated in the interim, the bench recorded Singh’s assurance and deferred the hearing till Monday next.

 

“The impugned notice shall stay in abeyance until then,” the high court said in its order. The FRRO had issued the departure order under Sections 7(2)(C) and 29 of the Immigration and Foreigners Act, which empower the government to restrict the movement of foreign nationals and enforce mandatory removal. Under the notice, Khan was directed to leave the country on or before October 28, failing which deportation procedures would be initiated. The action followed Khan’s brief detention during an October 10 demonstration at Mumbai’s historical August Kranti Maidan. The rally was organised in solidarity with an agitation by the Cockroach Janta Party demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the SIR issue.