The Bombay High Court discharged Dimple Kapadia’s daughter Rinkie Khanna from the complaint filed against her by deceased father Rajesh Khanna’s alleged live-in partner Anita Advani.
Advani had in 2013 filed a complaint before a magistrate under the Domestic Violence Act against the late superstar’s estranged wife Dimple Kapadia, their daughters Rinkie and Twinkle and son-in-law Akshay Kumar.
Advani had claimed that she was evicted from Khanna’s suburban bunglow ‘Aashirwad’ after his death and had sought monthly maintenance and a three-bed room flat in Bandra.
A magistrate’s court had then issued notices to them seeking their replies, following which they approached the High Court seeking quashing of the proceedings against them.
Senior counsel Shirish Gupte and Mahesh Jethmalani, appearing for the family, argued that Advani cannot claim relief under the DV Act and maintenance as Dimple and her family were not living with Rajesh Khanna or Advani.
After hearing the arguments, Justice M L Tahaliyani observed that Rinkie Khanna, who is married and lives in Kolkata, has nothing to do with the case and hence her name should be dropped from the complaint.
Advani’s advocate Mrinalini Deshmukh conceded, following which the court quashed the proceeding initiated against Rinkie.
The court also suggested Advani to consider dropping Akshay Kumar’s name but she refused and said Twinkle and her husand Akshay were responsible for throwing her (Advani) out of ‘Aashirwad’ after the veteran actor’s death.
Deshmukh argued that Advani should be given monetary compensation by Kapadia and her daughter for looking after Rajesh Khanna.
The court has posted the matter for further arguments in April.
In her petition, Kapadia had contended that she was the legally-wedded wife of Khanna and as such no other woman could claim share in the wealth left behind by her husband.
Kapadia’s counsel had argued that a woman in a live-in relationship with a married man cannot claim relief under the DV Act.
Rajesh Khanna, the first Hindi film actor to gain superstardom in Indian films, died on July 18, 2012, after a brief illness.
