The Bombay High Court on Wednesday stayed the demolition of actor Kangana Ranaut’s property in Mumbai’s Bandra area, which was undertaken by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation amid a row with the ruling Shiv Sena government, ANI reported. The actor filed a petition against the demolition drive.
The court has asked the BMC to reply to her petition. “We filed a petition this morning seeking urgent hearing,” Ranaut’s advocate Rizwan Siddiqui told PTI. “We sought a stay on the demolition process by way of interim relief.”
Earlier in the day, Ranaut shared photos of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation personnel demolishing alleged illegal structures and reiterated her “Mumbai is PoK [Pakistan-occupied Kashmir]” remarks.
“I am never wrong and my enemies prove again and again this is why my Mumbai is POK [Pakistan-occupied Kashmir] now,” she said on Twitter, using the hashtag death of democracy. She shared another image using the same hashtag with a single-word caption, “Pakistan”.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation had served her a notice of illegal construction. On Monday, the Bollywood actor posted a video of civic officials at her office, adding that she had done no illegal construction.
On Wednesday, after posting photos of the civic body personnel carrying out demolition work at her property, she reiterated that there was no illegal construction at her house and said “this is what Fascism” looked like.
She also shared an image of civic officials outside her office property to “illegally break it down”.
“As I am all set for Mumbai Darshan on my way to the airport, Maha government and their goons are at my property all set to illegally break it down, go on!,” she wrote on Twitter. “I promised to give blood for Maharashtra pride this is nothing take everything but my spirit will only rise higher and higher.”
Ranaut had sparked a row after she claimed that Mumbai felt like Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and that she feared living in the city. She had also criticised the Mumbai Police for its handling of actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death. The actor was found dead in his apartment in Mumbai on June 14, in what the Mumbai Police said was a case of suicide.
Sanjay Raut, a senior leader of the state’s ruling Shiv Sena, had hit back at Ranaut and asked her not to return to Mumbai and demanded an apology. On Tuesday, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had slammed Ranaut without using her name and said that some people did not show gratitude towards the city where they earn a living. Later in the day, a privilege motion was moved against her for her comments.
In response to Raut, Ranaut said in a video message on Sunday that she will be returning to the city on Wednesday and clarified that she was criticising the Shiv Sena leader and not Maharashtra.
Amid this, the central government has provided her with Y-category security.
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