The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) carried out the Demolition of “illegal altercations” Actress Kangana Ranaut’s office in Mumbai’s Pali Hill on 9 September. The actor then approached the Bombay High Court to sought a stay on the demolition process. Finally, the Court issued to stall the demolition until the next hearing on 10 September.
On 7 September, BMC officers inspected Kangana’s office. Later the same day, her lawyer, Rizwan Siddhiqui told in an interview that BMC entered the office illegally “which amounts to an act of trespass which is an offence under section 166 of IPC”.
The very next day a notice was served to point out the illegalities in the construction. The BMC officers told India Today that the action was taken owing to several illegal and unauthorised construction inside her office and they had given her 24 hours to respond to the notice. There were up to 14 violations listed in the notice.
Ranaut filed a plea to Bombay High Court demanding a stay on the demolition on Wednesday. The court stayed the demolition process and labelled the work by BMC as “malafide” and “deplorable”. It said, “The sketch drawing in the BMC’s stop-work notice was extremely unclear and the unauthorised works cannot be seen at all”. The Court also added, “The civic body was trying to waste the time of the court and in the meantime complete the demolition”. The Court has also asked to file an affidavit in reply by 3:00 p.m tomorrow.
Many on social media came out to criticize BMC’s action stating it to be targeting the actress due to her feud with Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut. Talking to a reporter Raut alleged that Ranaut insulted Maharashtra and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj while he called her “haraamkhor”. Countering the allegations Ranaut uploaded a video on social media where she countered his misogynistic remarks and also mentioned that she will arrive at Mumbai on 9 September. BMC’s action is also being seen as a vendetta.
The three-times National Award-winning actress also claimed that BMC has dismissed the High Court order to stall the demolition work till 30 September in the wake of Pandemic. She wrote on Twitter that the structure was like a Ram Mandir to her.
