MUMBAI, Nov 27: The Bombay High Court on Friday declared the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) action of demolishing part of Kangana Ranaut’s bungalow here as illegal and said it smacks of malafide intentions.
A bench of Justices S J Kathawalla and R I Chagla said the demolition action was “bad in law”, and observed that it was carried out on “wrongful grounds” and “against the rights of the citizens”.
Stating that it does not approve of authorities using “muscle power” against any citizen, the high court also said that the case was fit for awarding compensation to Ranaut for the damages caused.
The court was presiding over a petition filed by Ranaut, seeking that the partial demolition of her Pali Hill bungalow carried out by the BMC on September 9 be declared illegal.
The bench, however, clarified that it did not condone any illegal construction carried out by any citizen, and neither did it approve of Ranaut’s tweets that led to the whole incident.
“This court does not approve of illegal works or of loose statements made against the government or against the film industry,” it said in its order.
“We are of the view that the petitioner, being a public-spirited person, should exercise some restraint while tweeting,” the court said.
It, however, added that the comments made against the state or its machinery by a citizen in his or her individual capacity, must be ignored by the state.
“And if any action is taken at all, it must be within the four walls of the legal system. Any sort of muscle power can not be indulged in by the state,” the bench said.
It also directed Ranaut to show “restraint” in future while voicing her opinions in public.
In her petition, Ranaut had claimed that the BMC had acted out of malice following her tweets against the Mumbai police that had irked the Shiv Sena-led Maharashtra government.
The BMC had denied the allegations and said that the actor had carried out illegal work at the bungalow and its officials had therefore, acted in accordance with the law in carrying out the demolition work. The bench, however, said that the photographs of the site, BMC’s attempts at denying Ranaut’s allegation, the comments made by Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut, the editorial in party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ following the demolition, all made it clear that the civic body had acted out of malice.
It said that the demolished portions had been in existence for a while and were not part of any ongoing illegal construction as claimed by the BMC.
“The demolition action smacked of malafide and was carried out to cause substantial losses to the petitioner (Ranaut),” the bench said. (PTI)
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