NEW DELHI: Actor Imran Khan on Monday tendered an unconditional apology after the Bombay high court reprimanded him for participating in a protest against the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls despite being a US citizen.A bench led by Chief Justice Mahesh Chandra questioned how the United States would have reacted if an Indian national had protested there.“What for were you there? There’s a complete difference between the rights of citizens and OCI card holders… You need to clarify whether you were there for protests or for some other work. You will have to categorically make a statement that you had no association with the protests, etc. Because the agitation was with regard to SIR, with which you have no concern at all,” the court said.“Obviously, because you aren’t an Indian citizen… Imagine if an Indian citizen does such protests in any other country, take, for example, your country – the US. That Indian citizen would have been sent back to the country on the next immediate flight,” the court added.Following Khan’s apology, the Bombay high court scheduled the next hearing for December 7 and kept the “Leave India” notice against him in abeyance until then.The Bombay high court was hearing Khan’s plea challenging a Leave India Notice (LIN) issued by the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO), directing him to leave India by October 28. The court had earlier kept the notice in abeyance until November 2 and has now extended the relief until December 7.
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Khan, a US citizen and Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cardholder, was issued the notice on October 14, days after he was detained during a protest against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar in Mumbai on October 10.Following his detention, BJP leader Kirit Somaiya filed a police complaint alleging that Khan had violated OCI rules and visa conditions. The Mumbai Police subsequently forwarded an “unproven” FIR to the FRRO, which then issued the Leave India Notice.
