Mumbai: Actor Imran Khan has moved the Bombay High Court against a Mumbai Police notice asking him to leave India by October 28, days after he was detained during a protest demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
The police have acted under Sections 7 and 29 of the Immigration and Foreigners Act, on the ground that Khan is a U.S. national and therefore could not participate in the protest. He was detained on October 10 and later received a copy of the order.
Industry actors back the state’s action
Reacting to the notice, actor Raza Murad said no foreign national should interfere in India’s internal affairs. “As a U.S. national, he has no right to participate so actively in the country’s internal affairs or its politics,” Murad said, adding that Mumbai Police were “acting strictly within the legal framework.”
He said Khan had been given a full fifteen days and could leave by October 28 or take his grievance to court. “Whatever the court decides, we must all accept it,” Murad said.
Ashoke Pandit welcomed the order. “To fight for your rights as an Indian, you have to be an Indian first,” he said, calling it “nothing but an education” and a signal to those making “a mockery of the law.”
What the legal clock means
Khan’s court challenge turns the episode into a question of how India’s immigration rules apply to a former Hindi film actor with American citizenship. The immediate points are:
- The notice sets a departure deadline of October 28.
- The action invokes Sections 7 and 29 of the Immigration and Foreigners Act.
- Khan was detained on October 10 in connection with the protest.
- The Bombay High Court will now examine the order.
If the court stays the notice, the deadline may lose immediate force; if it does not, the October 28 date becomes the operational date. Murad framed it as two choices: leave by the date, or ask the court to decide whether the order is fair.
Why this matters for the Hindi film audience
The story sits at an unusual intersection of cinema and law. Imran Khan, Aamir Khan’s nephew, has been a familiar on-screen presence, and his citizenship status has now become the basis of a legal action. For readers who follow Hindi cinema closely, the court’s response may shape not only Khan’s personal status but also the wider conversation about film figures and political participation.
Source: Mid-day
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