Rakhi Sawant’s transit bail plea decision on Monday

Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Monday will pass order on a transit bail application filed by controversial Bollywood actress, Rakhi Sawant. Sawant has sought transit bail so that she is protected from arrest till she approaches the concerned court in Punjab and exercises judicial remedies available to her.

Sawant faces arrest following a complaint registered against her in Punjab for allegedly drawing a parallel between singer Mika Singh and sage Valmiki, who is known to have written the great Hindu epic, Ramayana.

Sawant’s alleged controversial comments were in relation to Singh, an accused in an assault case, who, she said, had undergone a transformation similar to that of Valmiki whose change from robber to sage is well documented in Hindu mythology. Narinder Adiya, an advocate, filed the complaint in July 2016 saying that Sawant had hurt the religious sentiments of a large number of Valmiki’s followers by making such a comment. A few days ago, there were reports about Sawant’s arrest however she has not been arrested so far.

According to Sawant’s lawyer, Adnan Shaikh, the next date in Ludhiana is April 10 and an advocate has been appointed to appear there on behalf of Sawant. Advocate Shaikh argued before the court that the complaint was a witch hunt against Sawant as she was a soft target and hence, innocent. Advocate Shaikh also told the court that the warrant had been issued at her old address and hence, she was not aware of it. After hearing the arguments, Justice A.S. Gadkari reserved orders on the application till Monday. The court did not grant Sawant interim relief from arrest however.

The Ludhiana court had issued warrant against Sawant on March 9.