After hearing the arguments for nearly four days, the Bombay High Court, on Monday, closed the petition filed by actress Kangana Ranaut challenging the demolition of her bungalow by the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), for judgment.
A bench of Justice Shahrukh Kathawalla and Riyaz Chagla would be pronouncing their verdict in the due course.
The bench was moved by Ranaut earlier last month, challenging the demolition by the BMC, which razed around 40 per cent of her bungalow situated at Pali Hill, Bandra. The actress, through senior counsel Birendra Saraf, claimed that the demolition was nothing but a counterblast to her ‘critical’ statements against the functioning of the Maharashtra government and also the Mumbai Police.
Saraf, in his lengthy arguments, claimed that his client's criticism displeased a ‘party in power’, due to which her bungalow was razed swiftly without following the due procedure of law.
The actress also sought Rs 2 crore damages from the civic body for destroying her valuables inside the bungalow. She even highlighted the controversial interview of Shiv Sena Member of the Parliament (MP) Sanjay Raut, who called her an ‘haramkhor’.
On the other hand, BMC, while agreeing its action was swift, argued that it won't tolerate any kind of illegal construction. The civic body, through senior counsels Aspi Chinoy and Anil Sakhre, trashed Ranaut's claims of procedural lapses and clarified that its action of demolition wasn't any counterblast to her statements.
Both the counsels argued that the actress created a political controversy only to hide her ‘illegal construction’ and that she was trying to play a victim now after her bungalow's unauthorised alterations were pulled down.
Meanwhile, Sanjay Raut told the bench that his interview was in response to the actress' defamatory statements made against the city police. He, however, rubbished the contention that just because of her tussle with the saffron party, the BMC razed her structure.
