Surrogacy case: SRK seeks dismissal of plea

Actor Shahrukh Khan has sought dismissal of a petition filed by social activist Varsha Deshpande seeking early hearing of the complaint filed by her in a magistrate court seeking action against him for sex determination of their third surrogate child.
Shahrukh's lawyer Pranav Badhekar on September 26 requested the Bombay High Court to dismiss the petition on the ground that neither Deshpande nor her lawyers were present in the magistrate court when the matter was posted for arguments on September 24.
Deshpande had filed a complaint in the magistrate court seeking action against Shahrukh Khan, his wife Gauri, Jaslok hospital and its doctor and officials of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) under the Pre-conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act.

Deshpande had alleged that the star couple had conducted pre-birth sex determination tests of their surrogate son AbRam.
Deshpande had approached the High Court seeking an early hearing into 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.
"In the magistrate court all the respondents filed their replies on September 20 and the matter was kept for arguments on September 24. However, on that day no one was present on behalf of the complainant and the matter was adjourned," Shahrukh's lawyer Badhekar told the court.

Seeking dismissal of the petition, Badhekar and BMC lawyer M P S Rao said that the petition has become infructuous and need not be entertained.
Justice Jadhav directed Badhekar to file a short affidavit by September 30 bringing this on record and also the order passed by the magistrate court on September 24 adjourning the hearing.
The civic body had earlier told the court that it had conducted an inquiry into the allegations of sex determination and found it baseless.