Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan recently sought dismissal of a petition filed by social activist Varsha Deshpande who wanted early hearing of the complaint filed by her in a magistrate court against the actor for alleged sex determination of the actor’s surrogate child. Advocate Pranav Badhekar, who appeared for the actor on September 26, requested Justice Sadhana Jadhav to dismiss the petition on the ground that neither Ms Deshpande nor her lawyers were present in the magistrate court when the matter was posted for arguments on September 24. The social activist had filed a complaint in the magistrate court seeking action against Khan, wife Gauri, Jaslok Hospital and officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) under the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act. She had alleged that the celebrity couple had conducted pre-birth sex determination tests of their surrogate son AbRam. Ms Deshpande had then approached the HC seeking an early hearing into her complaint on the ground that the Supreme Court had said that all cases under the PCPNDT Act should be heard and decided within six months. Mr Badhekar told the court that in the magistrate court all respondents filed their replies on September 20 and the matter was posted for arguments on September 24. “However, on that day no one was present on behalf of the complainant and the matter was adjourned,” he said. Apart from Mr Badhekar, BMC lawyer M.P.S Rao said that the petition had become “infructuous”. Justice Jadhav directed Mr Badhekar to file a short affidavit by September 30 bringing this on record and also the order passed by the magistrate court on September 24 adjourning the hearing.
