The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Thursday told the Bombay high court that it has conducted an inquiry and found baseless the allegations levelled against actor Shah Rukh Khan and his wife Gauri of conducting pre-birth sex determination tests of their surrogate son AbRam.
Justice Sadhana Jadhav was hearing a petition filed by social activist Varsha Deshpande for early hearing of the complaint filed by her in a magistrate court seeking action against the celebrity couple and others under the Pre-conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act.
According to Ms Deshpande, the metropolitan magistrate on August 8 issued a notice to the respondents and posted the matter for hearing on September 12. Aggrieved, Ms Deshpande approached the high court seeking early hearing and disposal of the case. Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation counsel M.P.S. Rao on Thursday informed the high court that the allegations levelled were baseless.
The court was informed that the hearing into the complaint before the magistrate court would come up for hearing either on Thursday or next week following which Justice Jadhav adjourned the petition for two weeks.
The court also observed that the only basis on which the petitioner has filed the complaint is newspaper reports.
Ms Deshpande had sought early hearing of her complaint on the ground that the Supreme Court had said that all cases under the PCPNDT Act should be heard and decided within six months.
Earlier, the HC had issued notices to Jaslok Hospital and its doctor Firuza Parikh where the couple had their surrogate child.
Ms Deshpande, in her complaint had alleged that the child’s gender had been determined before birth, thereby violating the sections of the act.
The complainant alleged that the civic officials had failed to take action against the couple and hence she moved the magistrate’s court with a fresh complaint.
Earlier, the 47-year-old superstar had rubbished allegations over the pre-natal gender tests on his third child.