Saif's 2012 hotel brawl case: Court warns of issuing non-bailable warrant against witness Malaika
Mumbai, Apr 30 (PTI): Noting that actor Malaika Arora was "intentionally" avoiding the legal proceedings by failing to appear as a witness in a 2012 hotel brawl case involving co-star Saif Ali Khan, a court in Mumbai has granted her last chance and warned of issuing a non-bailable warrant.
The court was irked after Arora failed to appear on April 29, days after a bailable warrant was issued against her.
Arora, despite having knowledge of the summons issued to her, was "intentionally" avoiding the court proceedings, the court said.
Arora was part of a group of diners that accompanied Khan at a five-star hotel on February 22, 2012, when the alleged incident occurred.
The court had already issued a bailable warrant against the actor and had directed her to appear before it on April 29.
However, when Arora skipped the appearance, Chief Judicial Magistrate K S Zanwar on Tuesday noted that an advocate representing Arora was present in court.
"Despite the knowledge, she (Arora) is trying to avoid the court proceeding intentionally," the court said.
While granting the actor a last chance, the court posted the matter for further hearing on July 9 and said if Arora failed to remain present on that day, a non-bailable warrant would be issued.
The court had first issued a bailable warrant against Arora on February 15. It was re-issued on April 8 as she didn't turn up.
Saif Ali Khan and two other accused were arrested following a complaint filed by NRI businessman Iqbal Mir Sharma.
The actor was accompanied by his wife Kareena Kapoor, her sister Karisma Kapoor, Malaika Arora, Amrita Arora, and some male friends at the hotel when the brawl broke out.
According to police, when Sharma protested the raucous chatter of the actor and his friends, Saif allegedly threatened them and subsequently punched Sharma in the nose, causing a fracture.
The NRI businessman also accused Saif and his friends of hitting his father-in-law Raman Patel.
Saif, on the other hand, has claimed that Sharma made provocative statements and used abusive language against the women accompanying him, which led to the ruckus.
Saif and his two friends- Shakeel Ladak and Bilal Amrohi - have been charge-sheeted under section 325 (assault) of the Indian Penal Code.
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US VP JD Vance says Lebanon not part of ceasefire, calls it ‘misunderstanding’
Budapest/Washington: US Vice President J D Vance has said that Lebanon was never included in the ceasefire understanding with Iran, describing the confusion as a “legitimate misunderstanding”.
Speaking to reporters before departing from Hungary, Vance said, “I think the Iranians thought that the ceasefire included Lebanon and it just didn’t. We never made that promise.”
He stressed that the United States had not included Lebanon in the scope of the ceasefire at any stage.
His remarks come amid continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon, where more than 200 people were reported killed, even as ceasefire talks between Iran and the US move forward.
Vance said Israel had “offered … to check themselves a little bit in Lebanon because they want to make sure that our negotiation is successful”.
He warned that if Iran allows the situation in Lebanon to affect the negotiations, it could derail the talks.
“If Iran wants to let this negotiation fall apart in a conflict where they were getting hammered over Lebanon, which has nothing to do with them and which the United States never once said was part of the ceasefire, that’s ultimately their choice,” he said.
