Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut’s audio recording was played out in Bombay High Court on Monday by Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut’s lawyer to prove abuse.
During the hearing of the case on the demolition of the actor’s Pali Hill office, a bench comprising Justices J Kathawalla and RI Chagla asked Ranaut’s lawyer advocate Dr Birendra Saraf, to play the audio recording of Sanjay Raut, wherein he made derogator y remarks against her.
This was in the backdrop of Saraf’s argument that the Maharashtra government conducted the demolition in response to the remarks of Kangana Ranaut.
Sanjay Raut’s lawyer Adv Pradeep Thorat objected: “The audio does not have the name of the petitioner.” To which the court replied that if it’s your stand that you have not called the petitioner “Haramkhor” then we record it.
Sanjay Raut had earlier referred to the actress as a ‘Haramkhor’ but later justified it by suggesting that it implied being ‘naughty’ in Mumbai’s lingo. Actress side pointed out that this demolition was an act of malice and a mere political move to teach the actress a lesson as she spoke against the current system in the state.
The actress also informed the court how the Shiv Sena leader had rejoiced about the demolition in an editorial in Saamana – Sena’s mouthpiece.
While HC asked Saraf to submit all tweets posted by Ranaut before the demolition of her bungalow, Senior advocate Aspi Chinoy, appearing for BMC rejected all arguments by Kangana’s lawyer saying that she carried out unauthorised structural alterations at her bungalow and that the demolition was not a result of her public utterances and statements.
The Bombay High Court said there was something fishy going on in the BMC when it came to demolition of alleged illegal constructions.
The bench of Justices said the civic body did not follow its own practice of attaching photos of alleged illegal constructions with its stop-work notices and waiting for some days before carrying out demolitions.
Bombay High Court had also asked the BMC if it showed the “same swiftness” in other cases of unauthorised construction as it showed in demolishing parts of Kangana Ranaut’s bungalow.