Sex determination plaint against SRK unfounded: HC

The Bombay High Court, on Monday, said these sex determination complaint filed against actor Shah Rukh Khan and his wife Gauri was "unfounded". Social activist Varsha Deshpande had accused the couple of determining the sex of their surrogate child AbRam.

"Prima facie, the court is of the opinion that it is an unfounded complaint. I am not saying it is a frivolous complaint, but it is unfounded, meaning without foundation," observed Justice Sadhana Jadhav.

The High Court was hearing a petition filed by Deshpande seeking early hearing of the complaint filed by her in a Metropolitan Magistrate's court. She had sought action against Shahrukh, Gauri, Jaslok hospital and its doctor under the Pre-conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act.

Deshpande's petition said the Supreme Court says all cases under the Act concerned should be decided within six months. The HC enquired about the source of information with Deshpande's advocate, Uday Warunjikar, who quoted a newspaper report dated June 14.

"The newspaper report does not include any statement of the actor couple. Don't you think you should have put in some more effort to substantiate the complaint before making such sensitive allegations?" the court asked. The court also noted that while the newspaper report was of June 14, the child was born on May 27 and prior to that no report or statement was issued that the couple was havinga baby boy.

Suggesting that the parties should put an end to the matter in view of the Appropriate Authority's conclusion, the court directed the BMC to submit by October 3, its report and other relevant documents before the magistrate.

Meanwhile, BMC counsel M P S Rao reiterated that the corporation had conducted inquiry into the allegations and has found that everything is in order and nothing is amiss.