Mumbai: Actor Shah Rukh Khan has sought dismissal of a petition filed by social activist Varsha Deshpande seeking early hearing of the complaint filed by her in a magistrate court seeking action against him for sex determination of their third surrogate child.
Shah Rukh's lawyer Pranav Badhekar on 26 September requested the Bombay High Court to dismiss the petition on the ground that neither Deshpande nor her lawyers were present in the magistrate court when the matter was posted for arguments on 24 September.
Deshpande had filed a complaint in the magistrate court seeking action against Shahrukh Khan, his wife Gauri, Jaslok hospital and its doctor and officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) under the Pre-conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act.
Deshpande had alleged that the star couple had conducted pre-birth sex determination tests of their surrogate son AbRam.
Deshpande had approached the High Court 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.
"In the magistrate court all the respondents filed their replies on 30 September and the matter was kept for arguments on 24 September. However, on that day no one was present on behalf of the complainant and the matter was adjourned," Shahrukh's lawyer Badhekar told the court.
Seeking dismissal of the petition, Badhekar and BMC lawyer M P S Rao said that the petition has become ineffective and need not be entertained.
Justice Jadhav directed Badhekar to file a short affidavit by 30 September bringing this on record and also the order passed by the magistrate court on 24 September adjourning the hearing.
The civic body had earlier told the court that it had conducted an inquiry into the allegations of sex determination and found it baseless.
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