Woman withdraws petition against Salman Khan

A division bench of justice DB Bhosale and justice AR Joshi refused to accept the submissions made by the petitioners and declined giving any relief. "What is the defamation in this?" remarked the court.

Phool Banoo was aggrieved as her photo was printed by a local tabloid with a caption, saying she had received a donation of Rs 1 lakh from the actor. But the court refused to buy the arguments by her lawyer. "The article was not written by Salman Khan. You had gone on your own to meet him. Nobody had asked you to go," remarked the court.

Her petition claimed that she had visited the actor's residence in Bandra in April 2009. "Salman finally met us at Mehboob Studio where he was shooting for Veer," says the petition. Phool Banoo then claimed that Salman also posed for a photo with her, which was published in the paper.

The bench asked her to either file a private criminal complaint before a Magistrate or a civil suit for damages and injunction against publication of photograph in a newspaper.

Alleging defamation, Phoolbanoo had sought damages of Rs 25 lakh from Salman and others. The Court had issued notice to police, Salman, producer Vijay Gilani, and a city tabloid.

Phoolbanoo contended that she was Salman's fan and had met him in Film city in April last year with her mother and sister. She claimed that Salman himself had asked his own photographer to click their picture. She asked Salman not to sell the photograph to anyone as she was a veil-wearing woman.

But in December, she saw the photographs in an English eveninger, alongwith a report which said that the actor had given her Rs 1 lakh, out of compassion.

Phoolbanoo said this was totally false and claimed that because of the photograph and the report, she had to face humiliation. She said she had approached V P Road police station, but police only recorded a non-cognisable complaint and refused to lodge an FIR for defamation.

The court was hearing a petition filed by Phool Banoo Bakshi Ilahi.
The court directed Khan, the senior inspector and the assistant commissioner of the VP Road police station, and the deputy commissioner of police, Zone II, to file their replies in two weeks.

Ilahi said in her petition that she was a big fan of the actor and had visited his home in Bandra, along with her family in April 2009. "I had requested his driver to allow me to meet him," she said in the petition. "On my request, Salman agreed to meet me at Goregaon Film City. I met him at the Mehboob studios while he was shooting for Veer." The actor also posed with her for a photograph.

Ilahi said that she was surprised and shocked when she saw her photograph with the actor alongside a story titled, 'Dildar Salman Khan', in a tabloid. Khan, on the request of Vijay Gilani, gave a statement in the paper that he had helped me by giving Rs 1 lakh.

Advocate Mohammad Iqbal Yunus Solkar on behalf of Ilahi said his client had to suffer after the news was published. "Not a single penny was given to her by the actor," Solkar said. "She faced criticism from society and also her relatives. The actor and the other respondents should apologise for this act."

Defending Khan, his counsel SV Marvadi said the actor had not made any such statement. Marvadi informed the court that Ilahi has already filed a private complaint against the actor.

The court asked Ilahi if she would be satisfied with an unconditional apology from Khan and the other respondents.
"We can direct the respondents to carry an unconditional apology in the same space where the story was printed," Desai said.
Ilahi too will file her reply in two weeks.